Wherever You Will Go
by Rynxenvy
Summary: Growing up as a vessel of Darkness, Akii wants nothing more than to overcome it completely. However the path to light isn't as easy to find as one would assume, especially with Maleficent and her uncle standing in the way of her freedom.
1. Prologue

**I had previously posted this story under my other account, KanikaMeskhenet, however I no longer have access to that account and I have recently started to work on this project again and wanted to share the full story.**

 **x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x**

 **Wherever You Will Go**  
 _Prologue_

"Queen Anni the vessels you requested are ready for departure." A rather frazzled looking red-haired maid rushed in to the private quarters of the young Queen.

Blinking back tears, Queen Anni smiled gratefully, "Thank you Sophie, you have been a great help to me and my family throughout the years…I'm…I'm going to miss you dearly, my friend."

Taken aback by the sudden confession, Sophie rushed forward and threw her arms around the young woman with long luscious locks of wavy blonde hair. Under normal circumstances such informal contact with royalty would have been punished, but at the current moment neither woman cared. The inevitability of the fact that this was quite possibly the last time the two unlikely friends would ever see each other weighed heavily on their hearts.

"Are you sure there's no other way? You and King Oliver can hide out on another world, can't you?" The red-haired woman, who was roughly the same age as the young Queen pleaded through watery eyes. The two women had grown up together, Sophie only being two years older than Anni, making her 24 while the Queen was 22.

Anni bit her lip, her lavender eyes softening sadly on her best friend, "Darius would find us no matter where we fled to, no, me and Oliver are going to face him head on and whatever happens to us happens."

The door to Anni's room opened quickly and a young man slipped in, barely a year older than the Queen herself. A deep-set frown pulling at the corners of his lips as he ran a hand through his shaggy raven hair, glancing up at the two women with worried lavender eyes.

"Anni, we need to hurry, Darius and his men were spotted coming up on the south gates."

Sophie choked back her sobs, "My lieges, my friends, please reconsider—this is a suicide mission!"

Oliver shifted his lavender gaze to the red-head, "That may be, however our lives do not matter anymore, it's our daughters who must be protected and I'm willing to die to ensure the safety of Lisette and Akii."

Gunshots were heard outside the window, Darius and his followers had successfully made it past the gates and were now on the grounds. Anni and Oliver exchanged panic-stricken looks, both rushing towards the corner of the room where the two cradles were located. The King gently picked up the younger of the two children, hugging her to his chest and motioning for Anni to take their other daughter.

Oliver glanced down at the 1 year old baby girl sleeping peacefully in his arms, tufts of silver hair peeked out from underneath the amethyst colored blanket that she was swaddled in. His eyes saddened at the realization that this was quite possibly the last time he and Anni would ever see their little girls ever again, tears pricked at the corners of his lavender eyes but he refused to shed them. He needed to be strong for his wife.

"Ollie, I got Lisette, let's get them both down to the ships." Anni's voice cracked. She was cuddling their 2 year old daughter to her chest protectively, the tiny girl was wide awake and watching her mother with curious soft lavender eyes. Lisette was too young to understand what was happening, giggling childishly and playing with the necklace around her mother's neck.

The King and Queen of Sanctions Keep stealthily ran out to the gummi hanger where two separate ships were already prepared for them. The smoke from the fires raging outside the castle walls was already beginning to seep in to the building, Anni choked, her eyes watering.

"Everything seems to be in order, my love. The ships are set to auto-pilot and you and I are the only ones who know where Akii and Lisette are going so their location will be safe guarded. Darius won't get his filthy hands on our children." His eyes narrowed at the mention of the man who was currently trying to overthrow him and become king of Sanctions Keep.

With the way things were going…Darius was going to succeed.

While Oliver and Anni ruled with kindness and were all around adored by the citizens of Sanctions Keep, Darius had over the years acquired quite the army of loyal followers who all shared his greed for power. Things weren't looking too good for the current King and Queen, which was why they were hiding their children—their heirs—on other worlds.

Anni felt the sting of hot tears in her eyes as she unclasped the silver chain hanging around her neck, a small silver skeleton-key dangling from it, and securing it around Lisette's tiny neck. "One day you will understand, everything will make sense and you'll find your way back to this world and take back what is rightfully yours. Be safe my daughters." She directed the last part to both children before safely buckling up Lisette in the tiny one-person ship, closing the door and setting it for departure.

Oliver kissed the top of Akii's head before following his wife's lead and safely securing the younger girl in the second one-person ship, watching as both tiny vessels took off in to the sky—amidst the chaos raging outside.

The door to the gummi hangar burst open forcefully and in stepped a man who was similar in appearance to King Oliver, only his eyes were pure black—black with the darkness of his heart. He smirked sinisterly, motioning for his guards to seize the two rulers.

"Brother! How could you?!" Oliver growled as his arms were restrained.

Anni was beside him in a similar fashion, her eyes narrowed in disgust at the man that had just entered the room, she made to reach out to her husband but was shoved forcefully away from him by one of the armed men.

"Anni! Get your filthy hands off of her!" The lavender eyed man snarled, struggling against his captors.

"Oh, dear brother, you were always father's favorite, now it's time to show the world who truly deserves to rule the kingdom," Darius' eyes were alight with malice, "and it's not you."

His intentions were made very clear—Anni and Oliver wouldn't make it to see another day, they had known from the very start that this would happen. The only thought running through their heads was that their little girls were safe; the true heirs to Sanctions Keep were still out there and away from this chaos. One day they'd come and reclaim what was rightfully theirs.


	2. Of Destruction and Turquoise Eyes

**x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x  
Wherever You Will Go**  
 _Of Destruction and Turquoise Eyes_

The streets of Halloween Town were alight with jack-o-lanterns carved in to faces with haunting expressions, eerily glowing fog swept across the cobblestone pathways throughout the town of horrors. Halloween celebrations were well underway for the great festival that would be held later on in the evening once it had gotten sufficiently dark enough to be considered scary.

Akii wasn't too worried, for an 8 year old ghosts and ghouls could rarely catch her off guard, she had grown up here where every day was like Halloween with different creatures wandering about the town, scaring each other. Due to her being a human in a world of Halloween frights and scares she had developed a strong tolerance for normal human fears; if you wanted to scare Akii you'd have to think of something more elaborate and creative.

She ran a hand through her short choppy-layered silver tresses, re-adjusting the white skull and crossbones hair pin on the left side of her head that kept some of her bangs out of her eyes. A proud grin pulled at the corners of her pink lips as she stared out at the rows of creepy jack-o-lanterns; she had finally been able to help out with the celebrations this year and had been given the job of carving the pumpkins.

"We did an amazing job, huh?" Her best friend gave her a lopsided grin, glancing over her shoulder to see Akii's expression.

"Devi….we're absolute geniuses, they're gonna put us on the decorating committee for years to come once they see how creepy our pumpkins came out!" Akii grinned, high-fiving the blue-skinned zombie.

Devi stood several inches taller than Akii and was also a year older than her with light blue skin that was cold to the touch due to the fact that she was technically among the undead ("If you're undead, then you're alive, yeah?" "No, that's not how it works, Akii!" "But if you're _un_ dead then that means that you're _not_ dead, right?" "You're hopeless."). Messily stitched up scars adorned her body, one dominate one wrapping around her slender neck and several stitched across her stomach, arms, and legs. Her clothing was tattered and bloody, a white ripped up t-shirt that hung off her shoulders, a black layered skirt, black boots and on one leg was a black and white striped stocking while on the other was a fishnet one. Her hair was messily teased, a light brown color with side swept bangs covering up her left eye, which was a hazel color.

"Splendid job you two, they look marvelous!" Jack Skellington strode over to the two girls, inspecting the jack-o-lanterns with interest, a grin tugging at the corners of his bony mouth.

"Akii are you done yet? I need you back at the lab, now." Dr. Finkelstein rolled in on his electric wheelchair, an annoyed frown stretching across his face as he surveyed the scene before him. He had taken the young girl in 7 years ago when she had been found in the town square as a baby and liked to keep an even tighter leash on her than he did with Sally.

She found her lavender gaze staring down at the cobblestone street in disappointment, "But what about the Halloween celebrations tonight?"

"I let you help out with the pumpkins, you know the deal we made when you were younger; no partaking in the Halloween festival until you're 16. Now let's go, I have a new experiment I need you to help me prepare." He swiveled around in his chair and started moving towards his tower-like lab, Akii dejectedly hung her head and shuffled after him.

"Poor girl, everyone should get to experience the scares of Halloween." Jack frowned.

"You know, he's never let her out on Halloween night before…" Devi rolled her eyes, "that old bat needs to lighten up, she's a kid! Let her enjoy her childhood!"

Akii had caught bits and pieces of the things that her friends had said and her eyes sparked to life, a plan formulating in her head. She'd definitely get to go out for Halloween tonight and Dr. Finkelstein would never know!

She followed him back to his lab, hanging back a moment awkwardly, she always had felt so out of place in his lab it was like a dungeon or something from a horror movie. Akii bit her lip to suppress the giggles at the thought, horror movie? _Take a look around Akii, everyone here could be in a horror movie!_ She didn't mean it in a mean way though, she adored most of the inhabitants of Halloween Town, and to be honest _she_ was the one that looked out of place, not them.

Akii was stuck playing helper to Dr. Finkelstein for several hours, running around the lab and fetching certain containers of questionable contents or holding up a beaker of fizzing liquid while he steadily poured in another liquid. Finally, after those grueling hours of having to dash about for him he had fallen asleep, it was now or never.

She slipped out of her pajama pants and oversized t-shirt, running a hand through her choppy silver locks and staring in to her closet, wondering what to wear. Akii pulled out a black form fitting corset like shirt that came down in a dark pink 'v' below her neck with frayed sleeves and dark purple ribbons stitching up the bottom. She chose a layered black skirt with matching purple netting coming out from beneath the pleated layers. Shuffling over to her dresser and opening the middle drawer to pull out a pair of matching purple and pick striped knee-high leggings. To finish up the outfit she thrust her feet in to her black combat boots and laced up the front, lastly she clicked her white skull and crossbones barrette in to her hair to keep some of her bangs out of her face.

Satisfied with the way she looked, Akii scrambled to the window where she had decided to try the old cliché of tying her bed sheets together to make a rope. Biting her lip and praying that it worked and held her weight, she yanked on the end tied to her bedpost to make sure it was sturdy before climbing out of the window and shimmying down the knotted bed sheets. About 2/3s of the way down she ran in to a problem…her makeshift rope had ended and the ground was still about 10 feet away.

"I can make it…" She muttered to herself, uncertainty creeping in to her mind as she let go of the sheets and fell the rest of the way, bending her knees just enough to absorb the shock, "Ack, that wasn't so bad…"

Akii rubbed at her sore legs and then took a few steps back, admiring the height that she had just come from, her room wasn't the highest room of the house but it was still pretty high up there and surely would have killed her had she not climbed down on her bed sheets.

Quickly glancing around to make sure no one saw her escape Akii darted off towards the center of town where she knew everyone would be gathered in anticipation for the main events of the night. Sure she may have missed the opening ceremonies, but that didn't matter, what _did_ matter was Jack Skellington, she was eager to see his grand entrance.

"That was quite daring of you," A voice spoke out from beside her and she jumped, "oh, didn't mean to startle you. You're Akii, are you not?"

She narrowed her eyes, taking a step back from the man that had snuck up on her. He was a tall man who looked to be in his early 20s with eyes the color of coffee and matching shaggy hair. He wore an outfit akin to a military uniform with different buttons and pins adorning his breast.

"How'd you know my name?" She asked warily, raising an eyebrow.

He smiled, "Your eyes."

"Huh?" She scrunched up her nose in confusion.

The man chuckled, "Excuse my rudeness, I am Colonel Edward Kirisaki, and you, my dear, are the Princess of Sanctions Keep."

Now she knew that this guy was crazy. Her? A princess? Well, she knew that she had been adopted and all and that she more than likely didn't come from Halloween Town but…really, a princess? A giggle escaped her lips and pretty soon she was doubled over, clutching at her sides, from laughter.

"Honestly, did Lock, Shock, and Barrel put you up to this? Sounds like something they'd do." Akii grinned, wiping away the tears that had formed in the corners of her eyes from laughing so hard. She expected him to be laughing a long with her and for the aforementioned trio of troublemakers to come out of hiding…but his expression was dead serious. She awkwardly coughed and bit her lip.

"I'm sorry, I think I may have misheard you?"

"You're the princess of a world known as Sanctions Keep, and right now your people need you."

Edward watched her carefully as his words sunk in, she seemed to realize that he was being completely serious and that it wasn't a joke because she swallowed hard and stared up at him with scared lavender eyes.

"How do you know it's _me_ though?" She asked hesitantly.

He smiled kindly, holding out his hand to her, "Why, your eyes. Lavender eyes are the sign of sovereignty in Sanctions Keep and only the royal family has them. You were taken from your family as a child and we haven't been able to locate you until now, so will you come back with me?"

She seemed to consider his offer for a moment, glancing over her shoulder where her home with Dr. Finkelstein and Sally was before focusing her gaze back on Colonel Kirisaki, placing her small hand in his much larger one.

 **x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x**

Akii snorted derisively, _how naïve had I been, honestly?_ Colonel—well he was the General now—Kirisaki had certainly done a good job at persuading her to come back to the kingdom of Sanctions Keep and take her place on the throne as the rightful heir. However things weren't always as simple as they seemed, she couldn't rule over her people until she was 18 so until then her uncle Darius would continue his tirade over the poor civilians.

Upon returning to her true home world Darius had begun to manipulate her in to believing that she needed the power of Darkness to better the world and protect her people when she finally took to the throne. Foolishly she had agreed, it was for the good of the people, right? With the powers of darkness bestowed upon her she could protect them, keep them safe from outside threats and even use her own darkness to keep otherworldly evils from penetrating the hearts of her people. How naïve of her to think that darkness could be used for the better good, it was silly really.

At first he fed the Darkness to her in small doses until she no longer got ill from it and was able to take in more and more of the dark powers without getting sick from it. Now here she was, 6 years later, with her entire body infused with the power of darkness. Akii was actually surprised that it hadn't changed her physically, aside from the fact that she was much quicker in her movements.

Her lavender eyes lazily gazed out of the dark tinted glass of her bedroom window, wandering over the sleepy town below her. While she hadn't been physically affected from the darkness she had still sustained several changes caused by it, like her inability to go out in to the sunlight. It had started as her getting small headaches or rashes from going outside, but now it had escalated to the point that if she were to go outside the light would…well she wasn't quite sure what it would do to her because she hadn't gone out in over 2 years. But the results wouldn't be very desirable, Akii knew that much. Every single window throughout the castle had to be replaced with special dark tinted glass so as to not affect her intolerance to light.

A tentative knock came at her door before it opened a crack and in peeked General Kirisaki, a wary smile pulling at the corners of his lips. He was afraid of her, he practically _reeked_ of fear. It was all the darkness inside of her, all the haunting deeds that she had accomplished with its help. Akii was supposed to be the brilliant young princess that everyone adored and looked up to, but instead she had swallowed the darkness and was feared by all.

"King D-Darius would like to s-see you." He stuttered and then turned on his heel and skittered away.

Annoyed, Akii pushed herself off of her perch on the cushion of her bay window and marched through the dimly lit castle. It wasn't so much as the fact that fluorescent lights bothered her as it was that her uncle Darius just preferred to live more in the dark than in the light. Her mind raced as she cast a glance down a particularly dark corridor, as ironic as it was, Akii was absolutely terrified of the dark. Of course, she'd never willingly admit it, especially not out loud.

Her feet pounded against the cold stone floor, skidding to a halt in front of an ornately carved wooden door at the end of one rather dark corridor. Knocking twice to signal her presence before opening the door and walking in to the even darker room, only a few lit candles aligning the wall gave off light. In the middle of the room sat Darius, a cold smile plastered on his pale face as he watched her with his calculating black eyes.

"You wanted to see me?"

"Oh Akii, how wonderful it is to see you." He grinned, not a very warming sight to behold, "A new world has appeared on the radar, I want you to travel there and set loose our minions of darkness."

That's what he called the Heartless, his minions of darkness.

"And what world, may I ask, is to be flooded with Heartless?" She raised an eyebrow.

A sinister grin curled his lips upwards, "A world by the name of Midnight Hollow."

Nodding silently, Akii absently waved her hand in front of her, conjuring a swirling portal of darkness before stepping in to it and disappearing into the wispy shadows. With her destination in mind she began to follow the shifting pathway until she felt the familiar tug at her naval that signified that she was there. Akii opened another portal, exiting the Corridors of Darkness and stepping out in to a dark, dense forest.

Her first instinct was that it was well in to the night when she had arrived for the sky was pitch black with only the moon and stars to light her way, but upon closer inspection she could hear loud melodious waves of music swimming through the air.

"Midnight Hollow, eh?" She mused, "So this world is dark 24/7 then? Must be a living hell for fellow nyctophobes."

Curiosity overwhelmed her, she had never heard of such a world before and she wanted to explore a bit before condemning it and its people. Slinking through the forest, Akii found herself at the mouth of the woods, looking out in to the town where people were still milling about and going along with their lives, completely unaware that their world was about to be invaded by Heartless.

A clap of thunder resounded across the town, rattling the windows from the intensity of it. Akii almost laughed, it was like the world _knew_ it was doomed and was defiantly wishing to go out with a bang! Her eyes fell on two boys sitting under an awning, speaking hurriedly to each other while glancing suspiciously towards the storm brewing overhead. She had gotten so caught up with watching these two boys that she hadn't even noticed that she was soaked from the now pouring rain.

"Well, guess I should get this done and over with so I can go home." Akii ran a hand through her sopping wet silver locks, her hair was getting kind of long, hanging just a little past her shoulders, _I need a haircut._

She closed her eyes and concentrated her energy on summoning the forces of darkness, pulling it from its waiting place and commanding it to do her bidding. She could feel strong pulses of darkness surging forward, her eyes snapped open and a wicked grin tugged at the corners of her lips.

Akii may not have liked what she did, but after being infused with so much darkness over the years whenever she used her powers a feeling of high overcame her. It was fantastic.

She glanced to where the two boys had been to see that they had disappeared, the town was eerily quiet and void of any life. Her lavender gaze followed a group of Neo-Soldiers that ambled down the street, vanishing in to someone's home, followed by several screams. A girl with raven hair and blonde bangs rushed by her in a blur, running deep in to the dark forest; determination set on her face.

Akii opened up a portal of darkness and stepped in to the Corridors of Darkness, quickly finding her way back to the castle of Sanctions Keep.

"So you're her new apprentice."

She whirled around, narrowing her eyes on the figure leaning up against the corridor wall. She had never seen him before in her life, he was tall and lean with ear-length spiky silver hair and cold calculating turquoise eyes. His eyes, the color was startling, even more so than the cold stare he was berating her with.

"Excuse me?" Akii had no idea what the hell this kid was going on about.

He smirked, "You do your King's dirty work, yeah? Well, since he takes orders from Maleficent and gives them to you that means you're indirectly working for her."

"Maleficent? Who the hell is that?" She arched an eyebrow at him, watching him warily.

"You don't know? So he really hasn't told you why he's had you go out and destroy other worlds and lives with darkness? Not a very good King you've got there, I'd say." He taunted, playing with the ends of his fingernails as if they were more interesting than having to look at her.

Akii was beginning to feel her insides squirm with agitation, her body was flooded by a cold sensation and she knew that the darkness inside of her was becoming impatient. It was like it had a mind of its own—and it wanted destruction.

"Who the hell are you and what are you doing in my castle?" Her voice sounded strained from anger, not even bothering to hold back her emotions.

He chuckled, his turquoise eyes narrowing in dark amusement, "Oh _your_ castle? I thought it belonged to King Darius? You're just his lackey."

"Ex _cuse_ me but I happen to be _Princess_ Akii, I'm not some throw-away agent of darkness or whatever, this kingdom is rightfully mine and in a few years I'll be the one to take over the throne and rule over Sanctions Keep. So I'd watch your mouth if I were you, _kid_ , because you're speaking to royalty!" She could feel her pale skin heat up in annoyance from his outright _rudeness_!

The silver haired boy gave her the once-over with his eyes, "And what're _you_ going to do if I don't? You're hardly worth my time."

"Riku we are done here for today." A low woman's voice called out from the audience room where Akii presumed that she had been meeting with her uncle. An involuntary shudder ran through her body at the sound of the voice, it held no warmth to it and vaguely reminded her of Darius' voice except times ten.

Out stepped a tall green-skinned woman wearing a long dark robe and carrying a strange scepter-like object. Her yellow eyes landed on the silver haired boy, a cruel smirk twisting its way on to her dark colored lips.

"Oh you must be Akii, marvelous job you did with Midnight Hollow; I couldn't have done better myself. You really do have a natural talent for controlling the darkness." Her cold eyes narrowed appraisingly on Akii, commending her for her destruction.

Riku scoffed, clearly not happy with the compliment that she had received from his master—mistress? Maleficent rarely ever complimented him and when she had it was never to the extent as the one she had given Akii. His jealously flared within him, Maleficent had never commented on _his_ natural talent for controlling the darkness and he was just as good, if not better than that whiny little so-called _princess_.

"Ah thanks…?" The lavender eyed girl watched the two suspicious figures warily.

The witch noticed the contemptuous glare that her young apprentice was shooting the Princess of Sanctions Keep and cleared her throat, "Riku I'd advise you to put away any ill thoughts you may harbor for this young girl for you and her will be working together in the near future. If you cannot settle your differences then it'll be harder for the both of you to complete your assignments."

Akii and Riku both shared a similar look of disbelief and irritation. They'd be working together? Why? For how long? Neither teen liked the sound of that.

"Until we meet again." Maleficent smiled coldly, stepping in to a portal of green flames with Riku at her heels.

The lavender eyed girl grit her teeth so hard that her jaw began to feel sore from the action, she clenched her fists at her sides and marched in to the audience room to have a little _chat_ with her uncle. There was no way she was willingly going to work with that asshole and she planned on making her thoughts on the matter very clear to Darius.


	3. Of False Accusations and Jealousy

**x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x**

 **Wherever You Will Go  
** _Of False Accusations and Jealousy_

Akii folded her arms neatly across her chest, jogging to try and keep up with Riku's long purposeful strides through the Corridors of Darkness. The two of them, much to Riku's annoyance and her displeasure, had been paired together by Maleficent to do her dirty bidding which was why the lavender eyed princess was currently in the company of Captain Asshole.

" _No offense, but what the hell were you thinking?!" Akii had screamed at her uncle, provoking a rather dark and sinister smirk to twist its way on to his pale lips._

" _Maleficent has strengthened my powers and increased them by tenfold, I would have been a fool not to accept."_

" _That's what this was about? Your greed for power?" She spat, running a hand through her hair to try and calm herself down._

 _He scoffed, "You don't seem to understand child, the increase of my power also means an increase in_ your _power, you'll be much stronger and will be able to protect your people even better than you are now."_

 _His famous last lines._

 _Darius knew exactly what to say to manipulate her in to trusting him and his plans, she just wanted what was good for her kingdom. It didn't matter if her people feared her, she was doing all of this for them…Akii just wanted to make a difference in someone's life, wanted to be important to someone._

Riku stopped abruptly, causing her to stumble over her footing and nearly run in to him. His turquoise eyes narrowed at her in annoyance, opening a portal and stepping through it, not even waiting for her to follow him. Akii groaned, he was such a jackass! Quickly scurrying out she cringed as bright fluorescent lights bared down on her unexpectedly. A dull throb panged behind her lavender eyes, but it was nothing too serious since the lighting was artificial and therefore not as potent as actual sunlight.

"You coming or what?"Riku growled over his shoulder.

She noticed that he had already gotten a head start, standing several yards away from her with an angry scowl marring his handsome ( _wait, what? No no no!)_ face. They were standing in the middle of a long tiled hallway, she moved quickly to join him, taking long strides to make it to the end of the hallway where he was waiting for her. At the end of the hallway was a door which Riku pushed open hurriedly, stepping in to a rather bizarre looking room.

In the center of the room was a table with a set of chairs on either side and on top of the wooden surface was a bottle with questionable contents inside. On the far side of the room was an insanely tiny door, much smaller than anything the two of them could ever dream of fitting through. On the left side, closest to where she stood, were a few striped chairs and a tall grandfather clock and opposite to that was a tall red bricked fireplace.

"What is this place?" She stared at her surroundings with a cocked eyebrow as Riku sauntered over to the table in the center of the room and took the bottle on it in his hand.

Akii cautiously walked forward to stand next to him as he took a big gulp from the glass bottle, she noticed a note tied to it that had the words _Drink Me_ scrawled in loopy calligraphy. He promptly handed the bottle to her, her eyes lingering on him a moment before shrugging her shoulders more to herself than anyone else, placing the lip of the bottle to her lips and taking a long swig from it.

Sputtering seconds later from the horrid after taste of the liquid, scrunching up her nose in disgust, Akii was about to turn around and tell off the silverette for poisoning her when she began to feel….awfully strange. It started as a warm tingling sensation in her toes that spread up through her legs, stomach, arms, and finally her head. The warm tingles melted away in to an unpleasant feeling of her insides being squeezed and she was sure that if it lasted any longer that she'd pop. Luckily, as soon as the pain came it ended as well and she was staring up at the table-wait, rewind. _UP?!_

"What the hell just happened?" She demanded, pointing an accusing finger at Riku who was examining himself as if to check that everything was still there.

He glanced over his shoulder at her, "You've just shrunk, it was necessary so that we could go through that door over there."

Riku turned back around and stalked off towards the not-so-small-anymore door, grabbing on to the snoring doorknob and giving it a harsh turn. The brass knob coughed itself awake and wiggled in Riku's grasp, giving him a disapproving glare.

"Excuse me, I was sleeping."

"I don't care, we need to get inside, so open up." He growled back to the talking doorknob.

"My, how rude!"

Akii rolled her eyes at the turquoise eyed boy's method of procedure; he obviously had no manners or people skills whatsoever and needed to be taught a lesson. She pushed passed him and bent down so that she was eye level with the doorknob, plastering on a cheerful smile.

"I'm sorry about my friend here, he was raised by wolves and doesn't know how to interact in public." She jerked a thumb over her shoulder at the glowering Riku, "if it wouldn't be so much to ask, do you think we could get to the other side? We're looking for our friend and believe that he could be lost over on the other side…"

The door knob frowned, "Well why didn't you say so?"

Riku glared at the both of them angrily as the door swung open to reveal a darkened forest.

"Hope you find your friend, now if you don't mind I'm going to be getting back to my nap now, good day." The doorknob waited until the two of them had stalked off in to the forest before closing the door and quickly falling back in to a peaceful slumber.

Despite the fact that it was hardly past noon and the sun was high in the sky, the overgrown canopy of the forest shielded the light from the forest floor, something Akii was genuinely grateful for. She glanced around their surroundings, noticing the gnarly knotted tree trunks lining the dirt path that she and Riku were on. There really wasn't too much to look at, the foliage on either side of the path was thick and hard to see through, with the exception of the random gap in the line of trunks that yielded to nothing but darkness on the other side.

"What exactly are we here for?" Akii crossed her arms over her chest, lavender eyes trained on the backside of Riku as he purposely strode forwards so that he was several paces in front of her.

"Maleficent wanted us to…tempt the Queen of Hearts with darkness before _Sora_ shows up." The toxicity seeping off of Riku was nearly palpable as his jealously for the keyblade master grew; just the thought of his former friend was enough to send him on edge.

Akii skirted around the random splotches of sunlight that was able to fight through the canopy and splatter down on the dirt path like spilt paint on a fresh canvas, pressing herself further and further in to the shadows. Riku narrowed his eyes curiously at her, but didn't say anything, continuing down the path until he came to an opening where he could see what looked to be a court case in session.

He swiftly jumped up on to the perfectly manicured lush green hedge to get a closer look, stopping short when he realized that Akii wasn't with him. Turning around he rolled his eyes, "You coming or not?"

She shied away from the opening in the forest and retreated several steps backwards, a pained frown tugging at the corners of her lips.

"I can't."

Annoyed, he humored her, "And why not?"

Akii clutched a hand to her chest in pain as the bright rays of light found her hiding spot and she had to jump back to the darkened forest shadows, "The light…I can't go in the light."

A look of understanding washed over Riku like that of the incoming tide creeping over freshly made footprints in the sand, he turned around and put a finger to his chin in concentration. His turquoise eyes landing on the giant leaf pedestals protruding out of the thick tree trunks, acting like a form of stairs. Her eyes caught his and then followed his line of sight, grinning in understanding.

She climbed atop the lowest of the leaf pedestals, jumping onto the next one in the series of green stepping stairs until she was relatively close to where Riku was standing. Akii was right on the edge of where the shadows met the light, pressing herself up against the trunk of a tree and biting her lip. She could hear what was happening below from her position, but couldn't quite get a good enough look without actually stepping in to the sunlight.

Riku got closer to the scene and clenched his fists when he spotted Sora and his _new_ friends standing to the rear of the procession. His eyes momentarily left his former best friend and wandered over to the red and black throne a few yards away where a plump woman with black hair and beady eyes sat. She wore mostly red with a small crown atop her enormous head, her beady little eyes staring down at a young blonde haired girl who looked absolutely bewildered, as if she had no idea why she was even there in the first place.

"This girl is the culprit, there's no doubt about it!" The bulbously round woman accused, pointing a sausage-like finger at the young British girl," and the reason is? …because I say so that's why!"

"That is so unfair!" The young girl cried out in defense.

The Queen of Hearts eyed the blonde doubtfully, "Well have you anything to say in your defense?"

"Of course! I've done absolutely nothing wrong. You may be Queen, but I'm afraid that doesn't give you the right to be so…so mean!"

"Silence!" The Queen of Hearts face turned beat red, "You dare defy me?!"

Riku's eyes swept over the scene once again, noticing Sora debating something with his two companions, seemingly deciding whether or not they should step in and save the poor girl. Akii wasn't quite sure what was going on, she couldn't see from where she was and it was bugging the hell out of her. She was curious but if she were the move forward she'd be caught in the sunlight.

"Damnit, what's going on?" She groaned, standing on the tips of her toes to try and get a better view of the scene below.

Riku held up a hand, silently telling her to be quiet.

"The court finds the defendant…" The Queen paused for dramatic effect before slamming her hands down on the wooden banister in front of her, "GUILTY AS CHARGED! For the crimes of assault and attempted theft of my heart…OFF WITH HER HEAD!"

Riku sneered, "Just watch, goody little Sora's probably going to step in and offer to help and in the end he'll save the day like the good little _hero_ he is."

She noted the animosity in his voice as he mocked the brunette below, her curiosity peaked. Who was this Sora kid? And why did Riku hate him so much? The lavender eyed princess figured that those questions should be saved for another time though she doubted that he'd ever reveal much about his past to her.

"Curious about what's going on below, are you?"

Akii whirled around…but no one was there.

Confused and on full alert she turned back around, only to stumble back a few paces as her face came inches away from colliding with the pink and purple striped face of a yellow eyed feline. Its grin was borderline mad as it stared her down with amused slitted pupils.

"Why don't you get a closer look, it's just starting to get interesting, don't you think?" He disappeared and re-appeared sitting on her shoulder.

"I can't go any further or the light'll kill me." She narrowed her eyes, shaking him off of her, "Who…what _are_ you?"

The feline vanished once again, only his large toothy grin left behind before disappearing aswell, "Why, the Cheshire Cat, of course. It looks like my assistance is needed elsewhere."

Riku growled, clenching his fists so tightly that his knuckles were turning white and trembling. His eyes followed Sora as he ran off in to the forest, the very forest that he and Akii were currently watching from, after promising the Queen that he'd find proof that would clear Alice's name. Sora was so infuriating! Riku needed to teach the brunette pipsqueak a thing or two about strength…and now that he had the powers of darkness on his side..

It was the perfect opportunity.

Completely forgetting that the silver-white haired girl was even there with him, Riku leapt from his perch on the hedge and started stalking after the keyblade master, his own blade, the Soul Eater, in hand.

"Wh—Riku? What the hell are you doing?" She hissed but he was already out of earshot.

Groaning, she darted after him, her legs pumping as hard as they could to help her reach Riku in the shortest amount of time possible to prevent him from blowing their cover to the keyblade master and his lackeys. Her chest burned, her heart beating erratically against her ribcage, begging her to slow down.

Riku now stood several feet above Sora and his friends as they spoke with the same strange feline that had introduced himself to Akii. The silverette clutched his blade tightly, his knuckles going white with jealousy and anger. He was about to leap down to the brunette's level when he felt a rough tug back and before he knew it he was surrounded by the swirling of darkness.

Akii stood before him, out of breath and staring up at him through narrowed eyes.

Riku didn't lower his demon-wing shaped blade, poising it out in front of him while eyeing her menacingly, "What is your problem?!"

The rage filling his voice sent an involuntary shiver up her spine, quickly shaking her head she summoned her weapon to her right hand; a long ebony hued shaft with a dangerously sharpened curved silver blade at the end. Akii twirled the scythe around her fingers expertly, as if it were as light as a feather. Instincts kicked in and the twirling stopped as she crouched in to an offensive mode.

He laughed derisively, "You sure you want to do that?"

She scoffed, "I wouldn't have summoned my weapon if I wasn't serious."

Riku's eyes narrowed in to tiny slits as he darted forward, swinging his arm around in a full circle and bringing down his blade with the intention of striking her upper body. Akii may not have had the muscles that the silver-haired boy possessed but she did have a lithe body built for speed and had an advantage over the darkness that he did not; she had grown up with it, and could harness the darkness within her while he was still learning.

Akii ducked under the wide swing of his demonic-like blade and whirled around to face his exposed backside, whipping her scythe at him so quickly that the air thick with darkness whistled over the surface of the silver curved blade. The swirling darkness around her heightened her senses, feeding her own darkness and strengthening it.

He let out a grunt, feeling the material of his yellow vest tear and slowly become soaked with the warm liquid seeping from the wound, staining the brightly colored clothing a muddy-crimson. Frustrated, Riku spun around and lashed out at her with his weapon, hitting her with a barrage of attacks.

She stumbled back, using the shaft of her scythe as defense against his weapon, struggling to parry against his well-placed attacks. While Akii had the advantage over speed Riku surely beat her out in the strength department, his muscles were well-toned from years of rough housing on the beach with his friends and if she wasn't careful that could be used against her to help him win this fight.

Side-stepping out of the way Akii dodged out of the way of another attack, closing her eyes she concentrated on the darkness pooled inside of her, guiding it with her mind until it was a physical material floating an inch above her outstretched palm. Turquoise eyes widened in surprise at this new found ability that he hadn't been aware of.

Akii's eyes burned with an intensity that he had never seen before, granted he'd only known her for a day or two, but the ferocious stare she was sending his way was enough to make any man cower. Well, any man aside from Riku, he wasn't particularly scared of her, she was a scrawny little girl and he was a well-toned boy. He could certainly take her on…right?

Akii thrust her palm forward and released the dark energy that was slowly building itself up into a good sized sphere of wispy darkness. The dark tendrils shot forward, wrapping themselves around Riku's legs and tightening themselves until his ankles were pressed up against each other. With a surprised yelp Riku fell forward, unceremoniously hitting the dark ground with a grunt of pain.

Unable to move his legs at all Riku threw Soul Eater at her as a desperate last resort. The lavender eyed princess chuckled darkly, side stepping the weapon flung at her with such speed that her movement appeared blurred and hazy to Riku. She appeared by his side in an instant and smirked, crouching low so that she was eye-level with him.

"You may be stronger Riku, but I'm faster and have more control over the darkness than you do." Her voice came out hard, laced with venom, sounding foreign even to her.

Riku blinked as his bindings released him, watching her cautiously as he picked himself up off the ground, glaring heatedly at her the entire time, as if daring her to make another move towards him.

Akii shook her head, had that really been her voice? _Her_ voice? It had sounded so distant, so foreign, so.. _dark!_ That wasn't who she wanted to be. Her eyes quickly found Riku's turquoise daggers she fought the urge to shrink away from the intense glare he was sending her way. He let out a frustrated huff and disappeared through a portal of darkness, angry that he had been bested by a _girl._


	4. Of Dusty Drawers and New Allies

**x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x**

 **Wherever You Will Go**  
 _Of Dusty Drawers and New Allies_

The fight with Riku hadn't weighed very heavily on Akii's mind over the past week that he had been absent from her life. At least, not the part that should have bothered her: the fight itself. No, what had been plaguing the silverette's mind was the drastic change in her demeanor during said fight. Her voice had sounded so caustic when she had spoken to him and during the fight itself she had felt so…powerful.

Akii certainly didn't want to believe that she was truly that dark on the inside, no matter how many years she had been exposed to the darkness. She hadn't seen Riku in a week and a half since that particular fight and things almost seemed back to normal, or at least as normal as they had been before she had met Maleficent and Riku. Darius was still sending her on missions to other worlds to flood them with heartless and aid in their destruction and she was still feeling high with power from the frequent use of her powers.

What _was_ different from the norm was the occasional appearance of Maleficent who would appear dramatically in a flourish of wispy green flames and storm into Darius' audience chamber to, no doubtedly, give him orders on what worlds she'd like for him (and by him, she really meant Akii) to destroy. If she was such an all-powerful witch then why couldn't she do all the world destroying herself?

During one of those regular visits from Maleficent Akii found herself sitting lazily on the plush seat of one of the castle's bay windows, her left leg pulled up to her chest while her right one dangled off the side. Her lavender eyes trailing after the tiny dots outside that were the people of her kingdom, happily milling about with their lives. The tinted glass making the world outside seem darker than it really was, it must have been nearly 3 in the afternoon and the sun was high in the pale sky, mocking her. What she wouldn't give to be able to leave the castle and go out to experience the day, letting the warmth of the sun ghost over her with its bright rays. It wasn't fair.

The door to the audience chamber opened and out stepped her uncle, he smirked maliciously at her as he strode forward in a way that he thought was intimidating. His dark charcoal eyes never once leaving her tiny frame and she got the distinct feeling that he knew something that she didn't know, something big. A moment later Maleficent followed after him, a triumphant smirk twisting its way onto her dark colored lips.

"Maleficent and I have spoken and feel as if it is in our best interests that you accompany her to her castle in Hollow Bastion and stay with her and her apprentice there for the time being. It would be more efficient for you to directly receive your assignments from her than to have her make the journey here every other day to inform me what it is that you are supposed to do." Darius' lips formed a tight-lipped smile, like he was torn between losing his greatest asset and letting her go for the time being to further his and Maleficent's sinister plans.

The silverette kept her poker face in check on the outside, but inside she was angered by this decision. Darius wasn't much fun to live with but she'd much prefer him over the green-skinned witch Maleficent.

 _I bet she's got a crocodile filled mote around her place and a drawbridge that only lowers from the inside._ Akii mused darkly, _And all her prisoners are kept chained in the dark dungeon._

"Alright, when do we leave?" She spoke quietly, her gaze locked with the witch's dark beady eyes.

"Immediately.", Maleficent smirked, "Follow me, dear."

A swirling portal appeared before them with a flick of her wrist, a medley of purples and blacks melting together in a wispy vortex of darkness. She crossed her arms over her chest, giving her uncle one last fleeting glance before stepping in to the Corridor of Darkness, following after the evil witch.

The journey through the darkness was insanely awkward; the only sound to be heard was the shifting of dark tendrils around them. Not that Akii was expecting Maleficent to chat her up. They stepped out of a portal and in to a dimly lit dilapidated castle, Akii grimaced, it certainly was nothing like her kingdom in Sanctions Keep, that was for sure.

Maleficent stopped walking abruptly, causing Akii to catch herself so that she wouldn't run in to the witch, "This will be your room while you are with us, I hope it is to your liking. I have no need for you today so rest up and I'll send for you when I _do_ need you."

The lavender eyed girl nodded mutely in understanding before slowly opening the old ornate door, it creaked to life with years of disuse. Wincing slightly from the sound she entered the room and sneezed, a cloud of dust billowing around her from the disturbance.

"This certainly is charming. When was the last time someone even came in here?" She ran her finger along the surface of the old wooden dresser, leaving a trail in the inch thick layer of dust.

Disgust for the filthy room clearly evident in her expression, Akii scrunched up her nose and tapped her index finger to her chin in concentration. She'd definitely have to clean up the place before she even considered living there.

Akii closed the door behind her and set to work with an old rag that she found hanging off of her bedpost, her first order of business was to get rid of the thick layer of dust that covered the entire room. The dusting alone took forever and by the time she was finished it was well after dark but she was proud to say that the stuffy atmosphere of her room was long gone and she could breathe easily now.

"I'll finish with the rest of the room another time but at least I got rid of that nasty dust." She mused, tossing the dirty rag to the side and taking a seat on the stiff, uncomfortable mattress that was her bed.

She lay back on her bed, folding her arms comfortably behind her neck in a makeshift sort of pillow as she figured it would be much more comfortable than the actual pillow on her bed. Letting her eyelids close she drifted off into a restless sleep.

 _There was nothing but darkness for as far as she could see. It engulfed everything in its way, the kingdom, the people, and her home. Nothing was safe from its destructive path._

 _Flames of darkness rose from the ground, licking at the sides of the castle and rising in power until they reached her window up on the 5_ _th_ _floor. Akii jumped back in surprised horror, who would have done this to her home? She and Darius had done so much to protect Sanctions Keep from the power of darkness, had it all been for nothing?_

 _The scene changed and she was standing atop Serenity Hill, a large grassy hillside covered in lavender and daisies to the south of the town that overlooked the kingdom. A surge of power coursed through her very being and suddenly she felt the corners of her lips twist upwards. She felt oddly…proud._

 _Her hands began to shake and she glanced down in confusion. Her eyes widened. Where her hands should have been were dark black claws, like that of a Heartless, and tiny wisps of darkness were pouring from the tips._

 _She turned around suddenly and gasped, behind her was a mirror but what she saw in it was not her, instead, the reflection that it showed to her was that of a giant Shadow heartless. Akii lifted up her hand to touch the glass only to have it shatter from her touch._

Akii woke with a start, her hair matted to her face with sweat.

"I...I guess sleep is out of the question…" She mumbled to herself, panting to try and catch her breath from such a horrible nightmare.

Swinging her legs around so that they were now on the floor Akii pulled herself to her feet and quietly ambled towards the window that overlooked what appeared to be some sort of rocky gorge. She leaned out the window a little ways and calculated a safe route to the ground from where she currently was. Using the door would take too much time, she just wanted to get out of her stuffy room and fast, she wanted to be anywhere but there.

Her eyes locked on the rocky mountainside below her window, it was as if the castle of ruins was built right in to the side of the mountain, she could use that to her advantage. She perched herself atop the window sill, the drop was too far down for her to just jump so instead she slid off of the window sill, feeling her feet hit a solid ledge beneath her window. Once she was safely out of the castle she used the tiny rifts in the mountainside to aide her in climbing down to the bottom until she was safely in the gorge below.

Akii wasn't quite sure where she was going, she didn't know this world at all, but she was sure that wherever she was headed would be better than being stuck in that dusty old castle.

She wandered down the gravel pathway for close to 15 minutes before she started to see a change in the scenery around her in the form of small patches of grass sticking out of the ground here and there. It was a nice change from the monotony of grey gravel and rock that she had been seeing nothing but ever since she arrived on this world.

Akii continued her trek until she came across a tiny field tucked away from the gorge and the castle, dark green grass growing in large clusters around a small koi pond. She felt her lips twitch at the beautiful sight before her, wandering over to the sandy bank of the pond and taking a seat, staring in to the shallow water, becoming mesmerized by the colorful fish swimming close to the surface. It was a peaceful setting, very ideal for just sitting and thinking about things.

And boy did she have a lot to think about.

That nightmare that she had had was something that often plagued her restless mind; Akii rarely ever was able to sleep through the night without waking up in a cold sweat. The nightmares were different but always had the same underlying theme of her being completely taken by the darkness and destroying her kingdom. It was her worst fear. It made her feel pathetic for even accepting the darkness in to her life all those years ago, when she was a young and naïve 8 year old.

"I was so foolish." The lavender eyed girl spat, swiping at her reflection on the pond's glassy surface only to have it waver back in to place, mocking her. _I still am._

She pulled her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her knees tightly, a small frown pulling at the corners of her lips, "I'm such a pathetic mess."

"If you keep telling yourself that not only are you going to believe it but so will everyone around you." She knew that voice, it wasn't exactly one that she wanted to hear at that moment. Akii glanced over her shoulder at the silver-haired turquoise eyed boy who was casually leaning against a tree trunk, watching her curiously.

Riku was seeing her completely vulnerable and she didn't like it one bit but there was nothing she could do about it now that he had already heard what she had said.

"What would you know about something like that?" Akii tilted her head to the side, her eyes cautiously narrowing a fraction at him.

He held up his hands in front of his chest in mock-surrender, pushing himself away from the tree and sauntering towards her, "What _wouldn't_ I know?"

She was momentarily taken aback by his sudden civility towards her, it was a nice change from the constant glares and annoyed eye rolls that she normally received from him, it almost made him seem a little more _human_.

"What, you insecure about yourself too?" Akii laughed lightheartedly, not expecting the silently torn expression he answered with.

Frowning, Akii looked up at him in astonishment, "You are, aren't you? It has to do with your darkness too, doesn't it?"

Riku plopped down in the sand next to her, one knee raised to his chest with his arm casually lying across it while his other leg lay straight out in front of him, inches away from the pond water. His silence was all she needed to know that he too felt insecure and maybe even doubtful of himself.

The two of them stayed like that for a few minutes, just staring out at the glassy surface of the pond, each in their own thoughts. It wasn't uncomfortable like she would have originally thought; it was sort of nice to be in the company of someone who wasn't always scheming up something dark and sinister for once.

"Why'd you choose it?"

Startled by the sudden interruption of the silence, Akii glanced over at him in confusion.

Realizing he hadn't specified what he'd meant, Riku added, "The darkness I mean, why'd you choose to follow this path?"

Biting her lip she hesitated, uncertain of whether or not she wanted him to know about her past and whether she could trust him to not use it against her in some way. Akii hadn't had a friend since Devi the zombie back in Halloween Town and since then hadn't had anyone to talk to about her worries and troubles, the thought sounded nice to her.

"I was a kid, just turned 8 years old, when Darius' secondhand man found me living in Halloween Town with my adoptive father figure. I was young and naïve and it didn't take much for him to convince me to come with him back to Sanctions Keep, after all, what 8 year old didn't dream of being a Princess?

I was stupid to think that things would be simple and easy, I was royalty after all, wasn't I? Instead of being waited on hand and foot by chambermaids and servants Darius came to me and told me that if I ever wanted to be a great ruler I would have to know how to protect my kingdom and my people and the only way I could possibly do that would be to accept the darkness. He made it seem so logical, he knew exactly what to say to manipulate me— _still does_." She gave a pained sigh.

He tilted his head, "You regret it?"

"Sanctions Keep has never had a problem with Heartless or any other issue involving the darkness; it's been well protected for centuries, from what I've read in the history books, and I want to make sure it stays that way. While I don't particularly like being part of the darkness, something that is widely accepted as being an evil entity, I can't help but to see the good that it does for my world. By having the darkness in me I can willingly control outside forces of darkness and keep them away from my people. If I had a heart of light then my kingdom would constantly be in danger of the Heartless threat, but because of me they're safe." Akii spoke confidently, but Riku could detect her true hidden feelings, he could see it in her eyes.

"The eyes don't lie; you don't really want the weight of it all on your shoulders." He quickly discerned, tilting his head to the side and frowning.

The lavender eyed girl was silent for a moment, chewing on her tender lower lip, "It's not like I _like_ having a heart tainted with darkness, it's just…I feel like it's my responsibility to do everything that I can to protect my world. My parents are dead, my Uncle is a sadist, there's no one else who can do it; it has to be me."

She shook her head to clear away the thoughts, how had they even gotten on the subject of her and her inner feelings? It wasn't exactly a subject she wanted to share with the world and now this boy knew. Wanting to avoid further disclosure of any information that she might regret speaking of later, she opted to bring the conversation away from herself.

"Now that you know my story, what's yours?"

Riku hesitated, he had listened quietly to her story and while he felt a sting of jealousy towards her power he couldn't help but to feel sympathy for her, while _he_ wanted the darkness _she_ didn't. What he couldn't understand was why someone with so much power like her would ever want to give all that up. It was ridiculous!

The thought of his past was still a sore subject and he wasn't at all too happy to talk about what had happened, but it was only fair, right?

The silverette sighed, "I lived on the mainland connected to a string of islands known as Destiny Islands, life was monotonous, every day the same thing; get up, go to school, Blitzball practice, go home, do homework, sleep, repeat. It wasn't what I wanted, I wanted adventure. Staring out at sea I came to the conclusion that we couldn't be the only ones out there, and if it was true, and there were other worlds out there why'd I end up on Destiny Islands? I wanted to see the worlds and travel.

My…" He paused, a dark loathing look entered his turquoise eyes, "… _friends_ decided they wanted to come along as well, so we set to building a raft that could hopefully take us somewhere completely new.

It soon became pretty apparent that I was the only one actually working on the raft, Sora was a lazy a _ss_ and Kairi wasn't any better."

Akii noticed that his eyes softened ever so slightly at the mention of Kairi.

He took a deep breath, watching her carefully, "The raft was almost finished but I was getting impatient about wanting to start the journey as soon as possible, so I opened the Door to Darkness. I was separated from my friends and Maleficent found me."

She tilted her head to the side curiously, "And that was that? You felt the impulse to join her and succumb to the darkness in your heart? Just like that?"

He smiled bitterly, "I never gave up hope, I continued to look for Sora and Kairi but I soon realized that Sora wasn't looking for us in return. He had found _new_ friends and didn't care about us anymore. I'm still searching for Kairi, but I've completely given up on Sora, he's not worth it anymore."

Riku grit his teeth angrily, clenching his fists and striking the sand beside him, leaving an indent in the pond shore from the pressure. Her lavender eyes widened and she felt her lips twitch in to a frown, she now understood why he had been so adverse to the keyblade wielder's presence in Wonderland. The boy had betrayed Riku.

Akii wasn't exactly a social person and didn't know the proper way to comfort someone when they were angry or upset, so she wisely chose to stay silent. If she had moved to comfort him in some way there was no doubt in her mind that he would have struck her out of blind fury from the rampant thoughts of his ex-friend. However, it's not like she couldn't defend herself against him, she had proven that a week prior to this moment, she was too tired to fight. After tonight she felt like her and Riku had made some sort of impact on each other, their relationship was different now, not at all tense like it had been before. Granted, she knew they weren't exactly _friends_ , but they had an understanding of each other now.

"We should get back soon, it's almost dawn." Riku spoke up, breaking the silence that had fallen between the two.

She glanced over at him and noticed that he had been staring at her, his turquoise eyes watching her intently, this simple action made her feel somewhat uncomfortable. Akii nodded mutely, pushing herself off of the sandy bank and dusting off the excess debris from her bottom. Riku did the same before offering her a rare smile, it wasn't a mesmerizing teeth-showing grin that could make any girl swoon (though she did admit that Riku was attractive enough and that he probably had girls falling all over him back on his home world), more rather a small twitch of the lips, but it was all she needed to see to know that he didn't resent her quite as much as he had given off in their previous meetings.

That was all she needed, it was nice to have someone to talk to, someone that she could perhaps even call an ally when the time came.


	5. Of Zombies and Hesitation

**So I pretty much have the entire story written, I'm working on the final chapter now. It's been a long time coming, I started this story back in 2009 or 2010? Anyway, it's about damn time that I finish it because I'm already on the third installment of this series in my head and I need to start writing it all down lmao.**

 **Please review and let me know what you think? Thank you!**  
x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x  
 **Wherever You Will Go**  
 _Of Zombies and Hesitation_

Akii stifled a yawn with the palm of her hand, stretching her arms far above her head until she heard and felt the satisfying _pop_ of her shoulders before rolling off the side of her bed and landing on the chipped stone floor. The once dusty floor felt uneven beneath her bare feet, chipped and worn down in places from either years of being walked on or having heavy objects resting upon it.

Running a hand through her sleep mussed hair she stumbled over a crack in the floor, heading towards the bathroom...she blinked. Where the hell was the bathroom anyway? She assumed that there had to be one; Maleficent was a witch, right? She could just magick one into existence! Akii bit her lip, scratching the top of her head before bringing her hand down to rest on the handle of the heavy door, twisting the knob and stepping out into the frigid castle corridors.

She placed a hand on her hip in contemplation, trying to memorize the way that Maleficent had lead her through the night before, until she remembered that they had arrived to her room by portal. This certainly wasn't going to be very helpful, there were so many hallways and rooms though, she was sure that she'd get lost!

"This place needs a map with a little 'you are here' sticker on it." She mused darkly, stepping forward and choosing to go down the hallway on her left.

After nearly 15 minutes of searching for a bathroom ("All I want is a damn shower, is that too much to ask for?!") and getting lost in the maze-like corridors of the upper floor of the castle, opening 38 different doorways (she counted each and every one), and coming to a dead end, Akii was ready to give up. That is, until she ran in to her best friend in the whole wide world! Note the sarcasm.

"What's with the stupid face you're making?" Riku smirked, apparently he had completely forgotten about the night before because he was back to his old self again. But something seemed different, despite the fact that he had just insulted her his tone was lighter, not as condescending and cruel as it used to be.

Choosing to ignore his rude comment she glanced around impatiently, "I'm looking for a bathroom, I'd like to wash my hair."

He surveyed her appearance before making a face, "Yeah, you could definitely use a shower."

Akii rolled her eyes before self-consciously picking up the fabric of her shirt between her thumb and index finger and smelling it, "Whatever, just show me where it is?" She was too tired to argue with him.

Riku chuckled, turning on his heel and briskly walking down a corridor in the opposite direction from where she had been wandering. Akii had to jog to catch up with his long strides, deciding to stay a few paces behind him to avoid the awkwardness that surely would come if he started a conversation with her. Luckily for her the walk remained as silent as ever, the sound of their footsteps slapping against the stone floor intensified by the silence surrounding them. Riku stopped abruptly in front of a dull wooden door, chipped in various places and splintered in others.

"Well, have at it." He waved off boredly before disappearing down another corridor.

Scrunching up her face in annoyance Akii lifted a pale hand to the dull brass doorknob, turning it gently and pushing open the creaking door. The bathroom was nothing like hers back at home—correction—her previous home. This one seemed to be in even worse condition than her room had been when she had found it the night before. The floor was dusty, as were the other objects in the room, the only indication that it had been used in the past few years were the footprints indented in the inch-thick layer of dust. The toilet was beyond disgusting; oddly colored rings were stained in to the porcelain. Akii was wary of where she stepped and what she touched as she ventured inside the tiny room. The sink had pieces of broken glass lying over the drain and the faucet drip dripped continuously. Glancing up she found that the pieces of glass had come from the mirror hanging over the sink, it was shattered, as if someone had punched it as hard as they possibly could out of anger.

A frown tugged at the corners of her lips, this place certainly wasn't gaining anymore appeal to her.

Akii gingerly walked towards the bathtub, anticipating the worst. Fortunately for her it seemed to be the cleanest thing in the entire bathroom, as if it had been used recently. There were even still small beads of water on the shower curtain.

"Well, that's one redeeming quality to this bathroom. I was afraid I'd have to skip out on showering for the duration of my stay here." She mumbled to herself.

Hesitantly she turned the knob, testing the water that came out of it and adjusting the knobs until the temperature was a comfortable one. Akii quickly stripped out of her dirty clothes and messily piled them next to the sink. Stepping in she felt her muscles relax as the soothing warmth of the water massaged her tense body into a calm, relaxed state. Lying on the edge of the bathtub she found a bottle of men's shampoo and conditioner and some generic soap.

"I guess I'll also have to go and buy some shampoo for myself.." She mused, lathering the shampoo in to her hair and inhaling the sharp spicy scent of the hair product. It wasn't a bad smell, on the contrary, and it smelled a little familiar—but she couldn't place where from.

 _Duh. Who else would be using this bathroom?_

She felt incredibly stupid for not realizing it sooner.

Akii quickly finished washing herself and turned off the water, not anticipating the cold chill of the castle air to hit her at full force as soon as she stepped out of the steamy confines of the bathtub. She shivered violently and noticed, with extreme irritation, that there was no towel for her to use to dry herself off on. Huffing out in exasperation Akii opted to just slip on her clothes, despite the chills that racked her body due to the cool drops of moisture still clinging to her pale skin.

Raking her fingers through her sopping silver hair she attempted to de-tangle it, a rather painful feat in itself as she had had a fitful sleep the night before and therefore her hair had become one giant rat's nest. But she made do with what was available to her and eventually (after 10 minutes of pulling and swearing) her hair was as close to tangle free as it was going to get.

Turning the knob on the bathroom door she pulled it open and stepped out in to the obnoxiously cold castle, ready to brave the twisting corridors to find the way back to her bedroom. She wasn't sure _what_ she'd do once she got back to her room though, Akii supposed that she could finish cleaning up the place to make it a little more tolerable to live in.

"Glad to see that you've cleaned yourself up a bit." Riku smirked, his sudden appearance startling her.

She placed a hand over her chest to try and quell her pounding heartbeat, "You're a sneaky little bastard, aren't you?"

The silver haired boy chuckled at her comment.

"Maleficent didn't need us for anything today, did she?" Why else would he be bothering her unless they had a mission to get to?

He shrugged his shoulders, "There was only one world on her list to shroud in darkness today and she already took care of it so as far as I'm concerned we're free for the day."

Akii nodded in acknowledgment, turning on her heel and heading back to her room so that she could finish making it livable. Riku didn't say a word, just watched her go with an amused smirk plastered on his pale face.

A thought struck her and she paused mid-step.

"Say, Riku?"

"Hm?"

Angling her face so that she was glancing back over her shoulder at him she asked, "What world was it that she sent the Heartless to?"

He tapped his index finger to his chin in thought, trying to recall what unfortunate world was on the list for destruction, "Halloween Town I believe, why?"

As soon as the words _Halloween Town_ had left his lips she didn't even need to hear the rest of what was being said, instead she thrust her palm forward and in seconds a swirling dark portal _whoosh_ -ed into existence before her. Riku quirked a questioning eyebrow at her, where was she going now? Before the question itself could form on his lips she was already inside the portal and it was beginning to close, without hesitation he jumped inside.

Riku caught his balance after stumbling into the dark corridor, with a semi-impressed sigh he noticed that she had already put quite a distance between them. Breaking into a light jog it didn't take him very long at all to catch up to her—afterall she was somewhat vertically challenged and his legs were much longer than hers. She paused in mid-step and turned to glare at him.

"Go back to the castle." She warned in what she thought was a commanding tone.

"Not until you tell me what you're up to." He stubbornly crossed his arms over his chest, awaiting her answer.

She let out a small sigh, "I'm going to Halloween Town."

"For what reason?"

She hesitated, letting the thought of whether or not she should tell him roll around her mind. He was first and foremost Maleficent's apprentice and therefore anything that could potentially spoil her plans could threaten his as well. Despite the fact that they'd gotten past the first level of barriers that they each had put up to guard themselves there were still walls surrounding them. They both still had secrets. Akii wasn't quite sure that she could trust him yet, she wasn't even certain that she'd _ever_ be able to trust the turquoise eyed boy.

Noticing her apprehension of the subject he stepped forward, "If you're worried about me going off to tell Maleficent whatever you're doing then I'll tell you right away that I won't rat you out." His eyes darkened momentarily and he added, "Unless you're betraying us to work with _Sora_."

She snorted at the thought of her running off to hang out with that annoying spiky haired keyboy. That was one thing that would _never_ happen; someone like _him_ would never accept someone like _her_. He seemed to loosen up, his tense muscles relaxing at the sound of her laughter towards the 'traitor' comment. Good, because if she were secretly aligned with that doofus then he'd have to personally take her out—then he'd deal with Sora.

"Since you put it so eloquently—"Akii rolled her eyes, "I'm going to help take care of the Heartless problem."

He quirked a brow at her, his mouth quickly forming the word, "Why?"

She sighed, "Do you not remember _anything_ that was said last night? I used to live there even though they probably don't remember who I am I at least owe them this for the kindness that they showed me during my childhood."

Riku thought about what she had said and uncrossed his arms, summoning his Soul Eater with a smirk.

"Well then let's go take out some Heartless."

She felt a strange warmth swarm through her at his offer to help her out. He really didn't have to, they were both risking punishment for the actions that they were about to take.

"We should do this quickly and then get back to the castle before Maleficent finds out."

She didn't even want to think about what the witch would do to them if she found out that her two charges were destroying the Heartless that she'd just summoned. Akii pushed the thought to the farthest reaches of her mind and started forward until she felt that tug that signified their arrival. The silver haired teens stepped out of the dark portal and into Guillotine Plaza where they noticed a swarm of Search Ghosts cornering a well-rounded man with a rather horrified expression. Akii recognized the man as the town's mayor.

"Jack! Where are you?! I'm only an elected official; I can't handle this on my own!" He cried out pathetically, getting cornered up against an old rusty gate by the Heartless.

"You ready?" Riku smirked. He didn't have to wait for an answer; she was already half way across the plaza hacking away at the remnants of darkness that were harassing the townspeople. He chuckled, rushing forward to assist her in taking down the ghostly Heartless.

The battle didn't take long but it sure was irritating when one of the Search Ghosts would teleport out of harm's way, or when either of the two accidentally stepped into the bright search light and wound up being grabbed. But it was their irritation towards the fighting style of those particular Heartless that fueled their drive to finish them off as quickly as possible.

They turned to leave as the last ghostly nuisance dissipated into a wisp of black smoke but were stopped when the Mayor's face turned from horror to glee in a matter of seconds at the Heartless' defeat. And by turned—his head _literally_ turned! He wobbled forward, clapping his knobby hands together in front of him.

"Splendid job taking out those Heartless!" He cried excitedly, "How would the two of you like to become official Town Protectors?"

Riku scoffed at the idea while Akii smiled politely, "Er, I'm sorry but we're not from around here, just stopping by for a visit with our—", She glanced to her companion for help but he only shrugged,"—our long distance friends. Penpals. You know how that goes."

The Mayor seemed disappointed, frowning momentarily before his entire face lit up once again as his eyes caught sight of something approaching them. Akii tilted her head to the side…and then wished that she and Riku had been able to disappear when they had the chance.

"…Akii?" Blue-skinned, morbidly bloody stitched up wounds, tattered and bloody clothing, and blood-red eyes that almost glowed; exactly how Akii remembered her. "Akii, is that you?"

"Devi!" The Mayor exclaimed enthusiastically at the appearance of the zombie, "Er—do you know these two? Oh! You must be the penpal this young girl was speaking of!"

Devi scrunched up her nose in confusion at the Mayor's words before stepping closer with a scrutinizing look in her eye, giving Akii the once-over. There was no doubt about it; she'd never forget that head of silver locks and eyes as light as the spring lilacs that grew in Easter Town.

Riku quirked a brow, staring between the two girls like someone observing a tennis match. He noticed that Akii seemed to be almost—no way—she wasn't…nervous was she? He smirked, _she_ _was_! Akii frowned at having been recognized. The Mayor tittered off, unnoticed by the three teens.

"Hi…long time no see, eh Devi?" The lavender eyed Princess smiled weakly.

The cold-skinned zombie narrowed her eyes, throwing her arms up in emphasized anger, "Where the _hell_ have you been, Kii?! You disappear one Halloween night and then no one sees you for _years_ —we all thought you were _dead_! And then you show up out of the blue and that's all you can say?! _Long time no see_?!"

To say that Riku was amused by the situation would have been an understatement. He enjoyed seeing Akii being scolded by someone who looked like she had just walked out of a horror movie, though he had to admit that the surrounding town made for the perfect setting. But what made it even funnier was that she had been thought to be dead—by beings who _were_ dead! Can you say ironic?

Akii bit her lip, frowning, "Yeah, I'm really sorry about that Dev—" She looked up, gauging the other girl's expression to see whether it was still okay for her to call her that, the zombie's face showed no change, "I was—I was summoned back to my true home world, it was really important and they didn't give me the chance to say goodbye. I'm sorry I worried you."

The turquoise eyed boy was surprised to hear his partner-for-the-day telling this girl the truth rather than making up some sort of lie.

Devi cocked her head to the side, " _They_? Who's _they_?"

Of course she would have picked that out of Akii's entire sentence to ask about, shrugging she replied, "My Uncle and his court."

"Court? What, is he like a judge or something?" Confusion etched its way on to the zombie's face.

Riku snorted.

"Not exactly, he's a King."

Akii shot the boy a glare to which he deflected with a shrug and a smirk.

Devi's jaw dropped before being replaced by a grin, "So does that mean you're a princess? Do I need to start calling you your Highness?" She swept back and bowed with a flourish, winking at her childhood friend.

She shook her head furiously, biting her lip, "No, God, please don't."

Riku stared between the two girls before shoving his hands in his pants pockets and jerking his head towards the entrance gate, "Hey Akii, we should get going."

For once she was glad to have him there with her to get her out of having to stay even longer than she should have. Akii really would have loved to catch up with Devi and hang out like a regular teenager but the fact of the matter stood that she _wasn't_ a regular teenager and never would be. Devi didn't deserve to be friends with someone like Akii, someone who had done such terrible things and was tainted by darkness.

"You can't leave yet."

The lavender eyed girl quirked a brow at her childhood friend, wondering what Devi could possibly do to stop her and Riku from opening a Dark Portal and leaving Halloween Town.

"Why's that?" Akii decided to humor the girl and ignore Riku's annoyed huffs.

Devi placed a hand on her hip and waved her free one around in emphasis as she spoke, "Because you need to come with me to see Jack and Dr. Finkelstein so that they can see that you're not dead, silly!"

The corners of Akii's lips twitched in to a frown and she nervously glanced in Riku's direction before turning back to the zombie who was grinning like the Cheshire cat at her own suggestion. The others couldn't know that she was alive and well, it was better off that they continued to think of her as dead—assuming she still crossed their minds every once in a while. Akii had only come to Halloween Town to help with the Heartless problem, which she had felt was somewhat her fault despite the fact that it wasn't—she hadn't planned on staying long enough to run into any of the inhabitants, it was supposed to be a quick in and out job.

Devi noticed the frown and contemplative look on Akii's face that gave away her unease, taking a tentative step forward she tilted her head to the side and spoke, "What's wrong? Don't you want to see Jack and Dr. Finkelstein and everyone…?"

Oh great, she was trying to guilt trip her.

"N-no it's not that! It's just—"She looked to Riku for help again and he sighed.

"—Her Majesty has some very important royal duties that she needs to attend to and by being here right now she is slacking off on her responsibilities. It's my job to get her back " He answered without hesitation. His gaze shifted to his companion, she wore a mask of indifference but he could tell that she was holding in her amusement at his quick thinking. Her eyes met his and he narrowed his gaze, silently informing her that she owed him for covering for her.

"Well, I'm sure you could spare a _few_ more minutes, yeah?" She persisted, "You know, Jack was really worried when you disappeared—we all were! Even Dr. Finkelstein was upset, not because he'd lost a lab assistant, do you know that he actually considered you his daughter? That's why he kept you on such a short leash, he wanted to protect you."

She was good.

Akii relented, letting out a defeated sigh, "I suppose _one_ more minute won't hurt."

Riku's eyes narrowed and he opened his mouth to protest, only to be quieted by a glare from the lavender eyed girl. Letting out an annoyed huff he crossed his arms over his chest and grit his teeth. She was his only way back to the castle as he hadn't quite figured out how to summon a Dark Portal yet, so until she was finished making up for lost time with her _friends_ he was stuck here.

Devi clapped her hands together enthusiastically, "Great! Follow me; Jack is at Dr. Finkelstein's lab right now!"

Along the way the red-eyed zombie spewed words out a mile a minute, she talked so fast that Akii could hardly keep up with what was being said so she wisely opted to just remain quiet and tune out her old friend. Riku pulled up beside her with an unreadable expression.

"You _do_ realize that the more time we spend here the more likely we are to be caught by Maleficent, right?" He hissed in her ear.

She rolled her eyes and whispered back, "Of course I realize that, Riku! But I couldn't just tell her 'no I can't stay, sorry but I don't really care that they think I'm dead and even though they took care of me when I was younger and I owe them my life I'm just far too busy to pay them a visit to let them know that I'm not dead.'"

His irritation towards the situation was growing, she could easily tell that by his darkening expression and the annoyed huffs he'd emit every few minutes to let her know that he was not happy at all with how things were going. But really, what else could she do? She owed the people of Halloween Town _so_ much for taking her in and caring for her when she had been a baby…

Devi lead them up the ever so familiar chipped and broken stone stairs that brought them to the door of Dr. Finkelstein's lab, a place Akii had spent her childhood years living and working in a long side the eccentric scientist. She felt apprehension take hold of her as she stood in the doorway of the tower, gnawing nervously on her bottom lip.

 _What am I doing here? They don't want to see me. What am I thinking?_

She blinked and let her vision refocus on…turquoise? Akii quirked an eyebrow at the silver haired boy standing before her, "You say something?"

He rolled his eyes and leaned forward, "You ready to stop your little walk down memory lane and get back to the castle? She's inside already; all we have to do is sneak off into a Dark Portal. She won't notice until it's too late, it's perfect, now let's go."

Peeking around him to make sure that Devi hadn't caught on that they weren't right behind her she lifted her arm up and summoned a medley of swirling purple and black. Riku's eyes filled with relief at the sight of the Dark Portal, stepping around her and entering the smoky darkness. Akii turned on her heel and went to join him, shooting one last lingering stare at the Lab behind her before stepping inside and closing the portal.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"Well, that was fun." Riku mused sarcastically as the portal closed behind them, leaving the two in the chilly corridors of the castle.

"Well I certainly hope that it was."

They froze, slowly turning around to face the angry witch who had appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Her stare was narrowed and beady, flames dancing in her eyes.

"Thought you could defy me by going to Halloween town and destroying some of my precious Heartless, did you?" The moonlight streaming in through the window to the left of them cast an eerie glow against her sickly green skin. Maleficent didn't give the two any time to reply before speaking once again in her harsh, commanding voice, "Granted, you only destroyed a few of my Heartless I shall still be punishing you both accordingly for your actions."

Riku shoved his hands deep into his pockets and frowned; he did not like the sound of this. Maleficent was known for being selfish and unforgiving, who knew what kind of sadistic punishment she could be thinking of. He shifted his gaze over to Akii who seemed to be thinking along the same lines as he was.

"Akii, you are forbidden to leave your room for the remainder of your stay here—or at least until I decide I have further use for you."

Riku shot the lavender eyed girl a look, why was she getting off with a simple _grounding_? That didn't seem so bad…it was unfair.

"And Riku," He turned his attention to the witch, "you shall be accompanying me from now on, no more solo assignments."

Sharing one last look before Riku was ushered away by Maleficent, Akii sighed and wandered down the corridor and back to her [now only] semi-dusty room where she flopped down onto her bed. Her mind had been racing with different scenarios during Maleficent's spiel and she had almost been certain that she would've been landed with something a little more…life-threatening than simply being grounded in her room until further notice.

It wasn't until morning that Akii understood the cruelty and full-weight of her punishment…


	6. Of Burns and Misconceptions

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x  
 **Wherever You Will Go**  
 _Of Burns and Misconceptions_

Three days.

The sun had risen high in the sky three times since her and Riku's punishment had been put in to effect, that's how Akii knew that it had been three days since she had last seen Riku—since she had left the room.

She hadn't taken much notice that first night to the fact that someone had been in her room and whoever that someone was had tampered with the windows. More specifically the special light resistant glass that served to protect her from the burning rays of the sun. Akii noticed none of this until the next morning when she had been woken up to an intense warm—no—burning sensation boiling beneath her skin in the form of painful blisters and deep raw-red rashes. Immediately her attention turned to the rays of the morning sun filtering in through the window—it wasn't being hindered and kept out of her room like it should have been—instead it swept over the entirety of the small bedroom, leaving not even an inch of lightless space for shadows to linger.

The light burned and weakened her, sucking out every last ounce of strength left within her and making her incapable of summoning a portal to transport her away from the castle. Akii resorted to tipping her bed onto its side and creating a sort of blanket fort for her to lie under, shielding herself from the sun's rays. The damage was already done and there was nothing she could do but lie there for those 3 days until she gained enough strength to allow herself to manifest enough darkness to form a portal and slip away in the dead of night.

She spent quite some time stumbling through the corridors of darkness, trying to figure out where she should go—it wasn't like she had a _real_ home to return to. Akii decided that there were only two places that she could go now, Halloween Town where she would actually be welcomed or Sanctions Keep where she would continue to be used by her uncle for his own selfish gain.

Her legs wobbled and gave out from beneath her, unable to carry her any farther. She was too tired and in pain from her burns, granted, they had already begun the healing process but they wouldn't be healed completely for a few more days—unless she got her hands on a potion or two. Groaning in pain, Akii struggled to pull herself back to her feet, her mind made up on her destination.

She had heard stories about those who lingered too long in the corridors of darkness and were overtaken completely. Akii didn't believe that something like that could happen to her, she was already so immersed in darkness that being in there didn't bother her in the least—she didn't feel fatigued or weak, if anything she felt stronger, able to breathe more easily in the corridors of darkness.

Lifting her hand she formed a dark portal, stumbling through and landing unceremoniously on the marble floor of the castle on the other side with a groan. Her eyes darted around wildly and she realized that she had ended up in the corridor that her bedroom stemmed from. The silverette picked up the material of her outfit and pulled a disgusted face at how dingy her clothing was—she was almost afraid to know what she herself looked like.

She pulled herself to her feet and started—slowly—towards her bedroom where she took a luke-warm shower (careful not to let the water get too hot where it could affect her burns) and dressed in a clean outfit—her favorite outfit.

A sense of nostalgia blanketed her as she stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. She wore a black form fitting corset like shirt that came down in a dark pink 'v' below her neck with frayed sleeves and dark purple ribbons stitching up the bottom and a layered black skirt with matching purple netting coming out from beneath the pleated layers along with matching purple and pick striped knee-high leggings. Lastly she pulled on a pair of black combat boots and laced them up. Adjusting the skull-and-crossbone hairpin in her hair Akii decided that she not only looked better but _felt_ better now that she had scrubbed away the grime and gunk that had accumulated over the past few days.

A familiar fizzing noise caught her attention and her stomach dropped into a pit of dread as three inky black Shadows scurried out of the murky darkness pooling on her bedroom floor. This was a problem. Heartless didn't belong in Sanctions Keep…something was definitely wrong.

Her scythe appeared in her right hand and she instinctively dropped into an offensive crouch, her joints popped noisily from the lack of use over the last few days. The Shadows melted into the floor and scurried around her feet before one emerged and swiped at her legs. Taking a step back, Akii swung her scythe in an arc and brought down the sharp end of the weapon; chopping it in half and watching it dissipate back to darkness with a hiss. The two remaining Shadows seemed a bit wary of her now that they had witnessed the death of their buddy, deciding to chance attacking her as a team. Akii let out a sigh and quickly dispersed the two Shadows. She turned on her heel and ran out of the bedroom, darting through the corridors and killing any and all Heartless that cropped up. She skidded to a halt just outside of Darius' audience chamber, trying to keep her rugged breathing in check—the last thing she needed was for her loud breathing to give her away.

Inside the Audience Chamber was a very irate Maleficent and a somewhat agitated Darius.

"You gave me your word that she would be an obedient and reliable addition to my operation." Her derisive voice sent chills running up her spine as she listened, "But she's been nothing but trouble, I don't take kindly to those who make me out to be a fool, Darius."

The man waved his hand dismissively, "Don't be so uptight. If she's escaped then there are only a handful of places she could be—this castle, Hollow Bastion, and Halloween Town. As for her making a fool of you—" He pointedly chose to ignore the withering glare she sent his way, "—you just don't know how to control her properly."

Akii clenched her jaw; she could practically _feel_ his arrogant smirk. That bastard. Part of her wondered if he knew that she was in the castle but the other part of her, the more reasonable side, knew that if he knew she was there he probably would have already issued a capture.

"Don't harp on it, I've already sent out hoards of Heartless to track her down, she'll be found soon." Darius spoke again, hoping to appease Maleficent with his course of action. She made a strange, somewhat displeased sound that scratched at the back of her throat.

"Very well, punish her accordingly if you find her before I do."

Akii bit her lip, taking a step back and leaning up against the chilled stone wall. So _that's_ why Heartless were in the castle—they had been searching for _her_. She couldn't stay here, she needed to stay on the move to avoid being found by Maleficent and Darius, she needed—

"I thought I sensed you out here."

To stay off the radar.

She jumped, turning to her side to see Riku leaning up against the wall on the opposite side of the corridor—right across from her. He smirked, his turquoise eyes roving over her as if for the first time. His gaze fell on the healing burns that adorned her arms and neck, his smirk slipped into a frown.

"…what happened?" He took a step forward, keeping his voice low so that he didn't alert the adults in the other room.

She shook her head, scared that she was going to be found out, she needed to leave now. The lavender eyed girl brought her hand up to open a dark portal, but Riku's arm shot out and grabbed her hand semi-tightly, preventing her escape.

"Don't." He sighed, examining the welts on her arm, "Did she do this…?"

"Not directly." Akii muttered quietly, "This is what happens when I get caught by the light."

His eyes met hers briefly before shooting towards the entryway of the Audience Chamber.

"Riku, time to go."

A disappointed sigh passed through his lips at the command before turning around to bid Akii farewell—only to find that she had already escaped through a disappearing portal of darkness. A small smirk tugged at the corners of his lips at her quick departure, though he couldn't help but to feel concerned for his friend and what would become of her in the near future.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Halloween Town looked the same as it always did. You'd think they'd try to mix it up a bit and add new fixtures to their town of frights or perhaps they were just too lazy to think up _creative_ new scares. Or perhaps they had spiced things up in the 'creepy department' and they just didn't affect Akii like they would have a normal human being.

Granted, she had been here a few days prior with Riku but they had only stayed in Guillotine Square and therefore she hadn't had much of a chance to really look around Halloween Town to see if things had indeed changed or had simply remained the same.

She walked briskly across the town square, narrowly avoiding walking in to one of the vampires (who turned his head a little as if he recognized her), and squeezing through the wrought-iron gates that lead to the graveyard.

A wave of nostalgia cascaded over her as her eyes landed on the familiar setting before her. Akii used to come here whenever she ran away—it was the perfect place to just sit and think, it was so quiet and peaceful. As she passed through the gates and stood on the other side she realized it was anything _but_ peaceful.

Heartless swarmed the cemetery, mostly those bothersome Search Ghosts that had attacked the mayor a few days prior. She summoned her scythe, wincing as the weight of it (normally light and easy to swing) seemed heavier due to the pain in her arm. But the pain was just a small price to pay if she could kick some heartless ass and save the town (or at least a few lives from being attacked!)

Rushing down the worn and chipped away stone steps, hopping over the last two, Akii headed straight into battle. She made sure to stay under the radar and out of the Heartless' search lights, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to swing her scythe the appropriate amount to strike down her enemies due to her injuries

Five or so minutes into the fight she heard the slapping of footfalls against the rough stone. She angled her face so that she could get a good look at who had just showed up and to her surprise it was a tall skeletal figure and Sora and his three friends; the dog, the duck, and…

Akii paused.

Why did that girl look so familiar? A white hot stinging sensation in her right leg brought her back to reality and she tore her gaze away from the Keybearer and his friends long enough to annihilate the stupid Heartless that had snuck up on her in her moment of distraction. Letting out a frustrated groan, Akii leapt forward and destroyed another Heartless, noticing that Sora and his friends were quickly dispatching the creatures as well.

With the help of the heroes of light the Heartless were history in no time! Akii let out a sigh of relief, banishing her weapon and pausing to catch her breath. She didn't usually get winded like this, especially not this easily; her weakened state annoyed her greatly. She turned on her heel to leave the Graveyard when…

"Hey! Thanks for helping us with those Heartless!"

The silverette halted in mid-step, cursing her rotten luck under her breath before glancing back over her shoulder at the brunet keyblade wielder who had addressed her. It was the first time she had been able to really get a good look at him; he looked young but in actuality was probably around her age, with gravity-defying brunet hair and bright ocean blue eyes.

"Yeah, you're a pretty decent fighter." The girl remarked, quirking an eyebrow at the lavender eyed silverette.

"I'm Sora and this is Jack, Donald, Goofy, and—"

"—Lisette." The girl interrupted.

Akii noticed that Lisette was a few inches taller than Sora with curly black hair kept tame by two low pigtails and golden blonde side-swept bangs with matching strands of blonde framing her face. Her eyes were a familiar shade of lavender, causing Akii's breath to hitch in her throat.

She realized that the small group was standing around waiting for her to introduce herself, wondering why she was just standing there gawking at Lisette so openly. Sora took a step forward and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, concern shining in his bright eyes. What snapped Akii out of her daze was an intense pain somewhat akin to being burned that stemmed from Sora's touch.

Seeing her face contort into a pained expression, Sora took a step back and turned to Donald for help. The temperamental duck sighed audibly, raising his staff and casting a Cura on her. Almost immediately she felt cool relief spread throughout her body, healing up the scratch on her leg and the burns on her arms.

"Thanks." She mumbled quietly, testing her arms before offering a small smile, "My name's Akii."

"Are you okay?" Sora asked, tilting his head to the side.

She waved him off and nodded, "I'm fine, thanks."

Jack stroked his chin with a bony finger, he looked as if he were about to open his mouth to say something when out of the ground emerged the ghostly figure of a canine, who Akii realized, was Zero. A small smile crept onto her face, remembering the times she'd play fetch with him.

"Zero! Have you seen Sally?" Jack stepped forward and they all watched as Zero's nose lit up and he hovered above one of the grave markers before diving behind it. A moment later Zero emerged with Sally the ragdoll in tow.

"Is something wrong, Jack?" The ragdoll asked, dusting herself off as she came out from behind the tombstone and started for the group.

Jack grinned, waving his arms around in emphasis to what he was saying, "No, everything's going great! We're going to have the best Halloween ever! All we need now is your memory."

"Memory?" Sally appeared to be momentarily confused before producing what looked like a twig with tiny budding branches stemming off of it, "You mean this?"

Jack clapped his hands together, elated that he finally had the missing piece that would make his plans complete and make his dream of having the Heartless dance a reality. Without thinking, he snatched the memory from Sally's hands, holding it as if it were so fragile that it might break from the gentlest of touches.

Sally opened her mouth to say something when her eyes landed on Akii and widened.

"It's you." She whispered, "You're here, you're alive!"

Everyone turned their attention to Sally and Akii, even Jack who had previously been distracted by thoughts of his genius plan to give the Heartless hearts. It was then that he put two and two together, snapping his bony fingers in realization.

"Akii! How did I not recognize you?" He stalked forward and bent over a little so that he was face to face with her, "You've been gone for an awfully long time, and look at you! All grown up."

The silverette felt a little uncomfortable with all the attention she was receiving, she wasn't quite sure whether she was excited that they had remembered her or if she was annoyed. No matter the emotions that she was feeling, she did _not_ want to have to answer any questions about where she had been for the past several years.

"Where have you been, Akii? You just up and disappeared without telling anyone where you were going, we were all worried." Sally frowned.

Jack nodded, "We even checked the Holiday Towns in case you had accidentally gotten stuck in one of them, but you weren't there, where'd you go?"

This was exactly what she did not want to happen. Exhaling a sigh, Akii frowned, unsure of how to answer them.

Sora scratched at the back of his head in confusion, "Wait, you used to live here? But you're hum—ow!"

Lisette elbowed him in the side, knowing exactly where he had been going with his statement and not wanting him to come off as rude, not that Jack or Sally would have been offended, but still.

The silverette closed her eyes momentarily, attempting to block out the increasing pulse of pain that was throbbing in her temple. Her headache had come out of nowhere it seemed and felt as intense as the ones she usually got when she was exposed to small portions of light for too long, not enough to burn her but enough to cause her discomfort. But Halloween Town was in a state of darkness, she found no visible light source…

"Hey, are you alright?" Sora tilted his head, worry for the lavender-eyed girl evident in his bright eyes. He took a step forward and the pain in her temple intensified, causing her to take a step back which confused Sora to the point that he halted in his movement and stayed where he was.

She cracked open an eye and blearily peered out at the small group gathered around her, it didn't make sense…why had the pain increased when Sora took a step toward her? Was _he_ the one behind the pain she was feeling? Then it hit her.

His light.

Not just Sora's light, but Lisette's light as well.

There was a reason why they were Keybearers, it was the abnormal amount of light within them and the overall good-ness in their hearts that made them perfect candidates to wield the Keyblade. Akii was a being of darkness and naturally opposed to the light which was why it pained her to be in close proximity to the two warriors of light. She needed to find a way to retreat without it looking too suspicious, she was already sufficiently weakened from her ordeal over the past few days and she just…she just couldn't handle this right now.

Her attention snapped back to the group surrounding her and she managed to smile convincingly, "Yeah sorry, I'm fine. I just remembered that I need to get back home. Take care!"

She waved half-heartedly to them before turning on her heel and stalking off towards the hinterlands where she could summon a dark corridor without having witnesses. She made it halfway to her destination when she realized that she was being followed, a pulse of irritation panged in her temple. Didn't they understand that she _didn't_ want to hang around any longer? A growl formed in her throat as she whirled around, only to come face to face with the silence of the forest—she was alone. Well, that's how things seemed at least but she could sense that something was a little… _off_. Her body was on high alert now, her fingers tingled, wisps of darkness billowing out of the tips of her fingers like smoke.

It couldn't have been Sora and his group, from previous observations she had concluded that he failed in the stealth department—so that ruled him out as a suspect. So then who could be tailing her? A wave of uneasiness fell over her, what if Maleficent was here, what if she had been found out? She was too weak to fight off the witch and her heartless minions, Akii wouldn't have her full strength back for days, at the very least. This wasn't good, not good at _all_.

Her lavender gaze darted back and forth over her surroundings, searching the darkness around her for any trace of an unwanted presence lurking in the shadows.

She found nothing.

Disappointed and a little paranoid, Akii warily turned back around, only she found that she had been correct in her assumptions and that she indeed was _not_ alone in the forest. Her eyes narrowed and despite the pounding of her heart against her ribs, she remained calm and collected on the outside, "What're you trying to do? Give me a heart attack?"

"Why? Was I close?" Riku laughed, pushing off of the tree in which he'd been casually leaning against and sauntering towards her, "Sorry about earlier, I just wanted to check to make sure that you were alright."

A small frown tugged at the corners of her lips, she noticed his eyes roving over her arms and she subconsciously tried to cover them up…but realized that her sleeves didn't stretch that far, leaving her completely vulnerable under his stare. Sure Donald had healed her of the pain, but the physical marks were still present, although faint.

"You shouldn't worry about me; I'm fine and quite capable to taking care of myself." She moved to push past him but he reached out and grasped her shoulder to keep her from leaving.

"You keep running away from me. What are you afraid of?" He asked quietly, gauging her reaction.

"Well as of now I'm officially on the Maleficent and Darius' hit list so I guess that's a good reason to be afraid." Well, maybe the implications behind the term _hit list_ were a little severe sounding, but really, she had no idea what the dark witch had planned for her should Akii get captured, but the various scenarios that were currently running through her mind didn't seem very pleasant at all and she'd do all in her power to keep herself out of the witch's grasp.

A tense silence fell over them, Akii frowning in contemplation and Riku staring down at her in determination—the reasons behind his determination were lost to Akii, and she felt a little uncomfortable under his gaze, shifting her weight and averting her gaze from his.

"Why're you even here?" She sighed, exhausted from the day's events.

"I already told you, I was—"

"—worried about me, alright I _get_ that. But _why_ are you here?"

He paused, his turquoise stare narrowing and his voice hardening just a bit, "So you had a run-in with Sora today." It was a statement, how would he have known about that? Unless he'd been _spying_ on her, the thought the he'd been following her around throughout the day both excited and infuriated her.

Akii pulled away from him, crossing her arms over her chest and wincing as her fingers brushed against the sores on her arms, "Were you following me?"

He shrugged noncommittally, "Didn't have to. I passed through the town and overheard Sora and his group talking—the subject of their conversation was rather interesting, I couldn't help but to stay and listen."

She rolled her eyes impatiently, "And?"

"They were talking about you. A silver haired girl with a scythe who fought alongside them and then vanished into the forest." Riku drew in a sharp breath, "So now that you're on the lamb you think that you can just switch sides like that? Maleficent and Darius are after you so you thought 'Oh, I'll just get all buddy-buddy with the Keybearer and hope that he protects me in the end', is that it?"

She was momentarily taken aback by the absolute malice present in his voice, he was truly angry and… _hurt_. Akii was torn between being angered by his accusations and feeling sorry for him, his eyes portrayed betrayal and while they weren't _close_ , per se, she still wouldn't have betrayed him in favor of hanging out with _Sora_ , of all people!

Laughing, Akii decided on a reply, "Boy have you got your facts all jumbled up. I haven't switched sides or whatever delusion that's seemed to poisoned your mind, I was taking out a few heartless and they showed up and helped me out—doesn't mean I'm suddenly best friends with the twerps, or that I even _want_ to be friends with them." She let out an exasperated sigh, "Honestly, if that was the case then do you think I would've run from them in the first place? No, I'd still be somewhere in town chatting it up with the little heroes of light."

Riku was silent for a few moments, seemingly at a loss for words. Logically, he knew that it was unlikely that she'd switch sides so willy-nilly like that, but at the same time he didn't know her well enough to be completely certain that she wouldn't do something like that. He felt a wave of relief crash over him when she debunked his theory—he probably would have lost it if she had gone over to Sora's side, not because he didn't want to lose _her_ , per se, but because he couldn't take losing another person. He would never voice this out loud but…he didn't want to be alone.

The sound of crunching leaves brought the two of them out of their own separate thoughts, the silverettes were both on alert now, scanning the surrounding area for an intruder.

Keeping his voice low to avoid being overheard, Riku leaned towards Akii and whispered, "It's not safe here, let's go."

Without giving Akii much choice in the matter he nodded his head in a manner that she understood meant for her to create a portal to escape through. Flicking her wrist, a swirling mass of darkness opened before them and Riku wasted no time in dragging her inside where she closed the entrance behind them.

"We're going to Traverse Town." He stated, marching off.

Akii had no choice but to follow him, jogging just to catch up, "Well you're acting strangely cryptic. Spill, what's on your mind?"

He didn't answer her for a long time, giving her the impression that he wasn't in the mood to talk about whatever it was that was bothering him. She was about to give up on waiting for an answer when he replied, startling her a little from the sudden sound of his voice against the quiet of the darkness.

"I found her."

Confused, Akii asked, "Who?"

"Kairi. We found her." He spoke softly.

"The girl from the Islands? That's great Riku….so now what?" Well, aside from wanting power and to be stronger than Sora, Kairi had been Riku's other priority—he had wanted to find her from the beginning and now that he had Akii wondered if he and his friend would go back to the islands together. A disdainful quirk of the lips reminded her that he was in too deep, even if he had found Kairi there was no way Maleficent would allow him to leave her side.

"Now? Now I have to find a way to get her heart back, is what." His voice sounded vicious, vengeful even, and it made the silverette glad that he was on her side.

She felt a pang of sympathy for the boy, "Her heart was taken? …and she hasn't become a heartless? How bizarre."

The way she understood, and had been taught, and had even _seen_ for herself was that once your heart was taken by the darkness you yourself became a heartless. Was that not the way things were? To hear that this girl, Kairi was it? Had had her heart taken from her yet still retained her original form was…well it was the strangest thing Akii had ever heard!

Riku nodded bitterly, "And I know exactly _where_ to find her heart, I just need to figure out how to _release_ it."

Well, she was officially lost but decided not to question any further since it seemed to be a rather touchy subject for Riku and he was already in a bad mood as it was.

A slight tug at her naval alerted her that they had reached their destination, with a flick of her wrist and a _whoosh_ a swirling mess of blacks and purples was before them. Akii waited for Riku to step out into Traverse Town before following after him, closing the portal behind them.

"What're we doing here..?" She quirked a brow at him curiously, lavender eyes darting around the dark town, warily searching for any Heartless that may be lurking in the shadows.

"You need a place to stay, don't you?" He replied, rolling his eyes and indicating with his index finger that she was to stay in the Hotel several yards away from them. Akii wasn't sure if she liked the idea of staying in such a place, sleeping on a bed where who knows what had happened on it, with questionable sheets that probably hadn't been washed in months. All in all, the Hotel was looking less appealing by the minute.

"Don't argue. This is the safest place for you to stay for now, you obviously can't go back to Sanctions Keep or to Hollow Bastion—stay here tonight and I'll be back tomorrow night to figure out what we should do." Riku started forward, pausing at the entrance to the building to wait for her to catch up before ushering her inside.

 _How chivalrous_. She thought with an amused twitch of the lips.

"Hello, may I help you?" The young man behind the front desk asked tiredly, not even attempting to hide how exhausted he was.

"Yeah, I'd like to get a room for my little sister to stay in for the night." Riku spoke, pulling out a few munny coins and slapping them down on the counter in front of the man, who yawned and snatched a blue key off of the hook on the wall behind him, handing it to Riku.

"Go up the stairs and it's the first door on the _yawn_ left."

The two of them nodded their heads before dashing up the stairs, using the key to unlock the door of the first room on the left. Akii was a little taken aback by how obnoxiously _blue_ the room was, _everything_ was blue from the carpet to the walls to the bedspread and the curtains!

"Well isn't this charming…" She mumbled. The silver haired girl had nothing against the color, in fact, she quite liked the color blue but the fact that there was no other color aside from the same shade of blue was what annoyed her the most, it was all the same monotonous tone…

"Alright, get comfortable and I'll be back to see you as soon as the sun goes down tomorrow." Riku paused in the doorway, "Don't leave the hotel for _any_ reason. Just _stay_ here."

"Shall I sit and do a trick as well? I'm not a dog, you know. I think I can comprehend the direness of the situation that I'm currently in well enough to understand that if I leave and I'm seen by the wrong person or found by the Heartless then it's all over."

Rolling his eyes, Riku nodded, "Okay then. I'll be back, just…stay out of trouble, will you?"

Akii groaned, "First you treat me like a dog…now you're treating me as if I'm an unruly child. You really need to take lessons in how to treat a lady."

He scoffed, "Well if a _lady_ would present herself to me then I'd be more than happy to treat her properly."

"Just _go_." She felt like she and Riku were getting far too comfortable around each other in such a short time and it was beginning to make her feel more than a little uneasy—she needed more time to herself to get her thoughts together and decide on a plan of action for the coming days and she knew she wouldn't be able to do so if he were still there, pestering her and bickering back and forth.

Riku smirked triumphantly, feeling rather victorious over their argument, "Alright, remember—"

"—Yeah yeah, stay here, don't leave until you come back tomorrow. I heard you the first time." She replied offhandedly, waving her hand dismissively at him.

Grumbling something incoherent, Riku faced away from her and disappeared into the hallway, closing the door behind him. She vaguely wondered how he expected to get back to Maleficent's castle without her there to open a portal for him, and then another question popped up—how had he wound up in Halloween Town in the first place anyway if he was so dependent on other people for transportation…?

She pondered this for a moment or two before striding over to the bed and collapsing atop the blue comforter, mentally tracing patterns on the ceiling. She was physically and mentally exhausted but didn't exactly feel the want to sleep just yet, Akii would have the entire day to sleep tomorrow while waiting for night to fall and Riku to return so if she passed out now she'd have nothing to do during the day and the wait for Riku would seem infinitely longer.

"It's tough living the life of a fugitive." She mused lightly to herself, a weak attempt at cracking a joke to make herself feel better about the situation she had gotten herself into. No matter how she looked at it there really wasn't much of a silver lining to the storm clouds hanging over her.


	7. Of Revelations and Promises

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x  
 **Wherever You Will Go**  
 _Of Revelations and Promises_

The thick blue curtains remained drawn throughout the day and Akii found herself pacing back and forth anxiously in her hotel room, occasionally staring at the ticking hands of the clock to see if they had moved at all from their previous position. She was growing incredibly impatient and felt more and more uneasy with each passing hour. Could she really trust Riku? How did she know that he hadn't run back to Maleficent or Darius and told them of her whereabouts? In her current physical state it would be unwise to fight—although, she would admit that Donald's Cura had done wonders for her and being able to sleep through the night had helped as well.

But here she was anxiously waiting for Riku's return…if he even planned on returning. Anything could have happened between now and when she had seen him the night before. Letting out a frustrated groan, the silver-haired girl thrust her palm forward and opened a portal of darkness, "Sorry Riku, I can't sit here and wait to be found. I need to do something..." she whispered to the empty room, taking one last look at her surroundings before stepping into the welcoming darkness.

It was an absolute terrible idea, she knew it, but she couldn't sit idly by while heartless ran amuck in her kingdom. She needed to do something. Akii rolled her lip between her teeth, nervously weighing her options. On the one hand heartless had never been sighted in Sanctions Keep and as far as she was concerned they did not belong there, her people didn't deserve the destruction and heartbreak that Heartless brought. But it was currently the middle of the day and she knew that she was virtually useless while the sun was out.

She didn't know what to do, she was at a loss.

 _Maybe if I show up I could dispel some that're in the castle or around the forest and once the sun goes down I can kill some more and be back in Traverse Town before Riku notices I even left…_

With her mind made up, no matter how awful the idea really was, Akii pushed forward through the darkness until she was at her stop. Drawing in a deep breath and exhaling slowly, the young girl emerged from the darkness and found herself in her old room. She half expected the windows to have been tampered with to smoke her out just like they had been at the castle in Hollow Bastion, but they weren't. Everything was just as she had left it, it was somewhat calming to see that nothing in her room had been touched since she had left with Maleficent the first time.

Shaking her head to clear away the distractions, Akii quietly exited her room and entered the corridor. The sound of voices carried down the hallway and she had to strain her ears to try and hear what was being said. She recognized the voices as her uncle and Maleficent. _Wow, those two are seeing a lot of each other lately._

She snuck closer to the audience chamber, her back pressed against the chilled stone wall, her muscles tense with the anticipation of being caught. She knew that she was making poor decisions and putting her life on the line by being here but something inside of her just knew that she needed to be here. Maybe she would overhear Darius and Maleficent's plans so that she could be one step ahead of them?

"This is somewhat of a dilemma, she wasn't supposed to be alive." Darius' cold, calculating voice drifted towards her and she vaguely wondered who it was they were speaking about. Were they talking about her? Did they somehow assume that she would have died days after she had defected?

"Yes, and to top it all off she's got a Keyblade and is running around with the boy dispersing my heartless." Maleficent hissed.

Akii couldn't see them but she imagined that Maleficent had a sour look on her face, as per usual, and Darius probably entertained a scowl as well. The conversation wasn't a very light one, Akii realized that they must've been speaking about the girl—Lisette, right?—that was traveling with Sora.

"I had hoped that finding Akii alive had been a fluke, I worked hard to manipulate and mold her into the perfect little pawn to do my bidding. Her sister being alive as well really puts a damper on things. I can't have her threatening my position on the throne." Darius mused darkly.

"I suppose it can't be helped; Lisette must be eradicated."

Akii's head was swimming, she felt her breath hitch in her throat. What the hell did they mean by that? She didn't have a sister, and she most certainly didn't have a sister who was a Keyblade wielder! Her chest constricted at the thought—she had family!—someone who _wasn't_ a manipulative, controlling asshole!

"Any news on the location of Akii?"

She snapped back to reality at the sound of her name passing over the lips of the witch and she involuntarily shuddered.

Darius shifted his weight and brought his gaze to meet Maleficent's, "I have Heartless out searching the worlds for her, wherever she is she won't stay hidden long." He was confident that she would be found, Akii felt her lips twitch into a smirk at the irony that while he had his dark minions scouring the worlds for her that she was literally right under their noses.

"And if she refuses to return to us?"

The man shrugged his shoulders and answered nonchalantly, "Then we kill her too. Disobedience will not be tolerated and I wouldn't want to risk her coming back and trying to reclaim the throne."

He had always had a one-track mind that focused solely on his claim to the throne. In the beginning he admitted that he was looking out for her best interest and that once she became of age she would take over, as it was her right, and that he was merely standing in as a placeholder until she was old enough to become Queen. Akii had always had a sneaking suspicion that he wasn't going to give up his position as "King" as easily as he promised he would. He was power hungry and manipulative and a liar and a terrible human being who did not have the best interest of the kingdom on his mind.

It really came as no surprise to hear those words uttered by her uncle, he was a little too predictable and honestly she had already assumed that their plans for her may have included death as the end-game.

Realizing that she had over stayed her welcome, she knew that they'd be wrapping up their conversation soon and she needed to be gone before that happened. She was already treading on thin ice and with everything she had just overheard she felt like her head was about to explode. _I need to lay down and plan out my next move._

Back in her motel room Akii found herself, once again, pacing back and forth anxiously while going over the new information that she had been presented with. She wasn't sure how Lisette would take it, but she knew that the keyblade wielder needed to know who she was and their relationship to each other.

A warmth surged through her at the thought of her sister, _her_ sister, she couldn't get past the thought of having a living relative that wasn't toxic to be around like her uncle was.

The silver-haired teen paused in her thoughts, her feet shuffled to a halt and she found herself standing still in the center of the deep blue. "I'll never be able to get close to her." Feeling defeated, Akii collapsed onto the plush shag carpet, her eyes glazed over and distant.

Growing up she had always imagined herself, in another life, with a family—a mother, father, and an older sister who teased her as older siblings do but at the end of the day would love her unconditionally. She would imagine herself playing in the courtyard and enjoying the summer heat, her skin tan from continuous exposure. But things weren't as simple in real life as they were in your imagination. She just found out that she had a sister but…they were polar opposites. Lisette was full of light and Akii was anything _but_ that. They would never be able to hug or be close to one another without Akii feeling the sharp pain of the light trying to overtake her darkness. It was a less than ideal situation, a sort of catch 22—congrats you have a sister, unfortunately being around her could potentially kill you.

"How fucking fair is that?" She groaned miserably, her face rubbing against the shag carpet.

"How fair is what?" Riku's smooth voice drifted past her ears.

Pushing herself off of the floor she crossed her legs and brought her lavender gaze up to meet his curious stare, "Did you know that I have a sister? Because I sure as hell didn't."

He didn't seem too surprised by this revelation which lead her to believe that he had known this entire time, which made sense considering the company he kept. His lack of disbelief simultaneously angered and upset her that he would keep something as huge as this from her.

"You knew." She stated, she narrowed her eyes accusatorily, "What else have you been keeping from me?"

Riku was taken aback by her sudden hostility and momentarily lost his cool under her sharp glare but he quickly regained his composure and rolled his eyes, "You think I would keep something this big from you—especially something that has everything to do with you? No. Think for a minute here, Akii. I literally heard about it from Maleficent today and—wait, how did you find out?" It was now his turn to sharpen his gaze suspiciously at her before answering his own question, his voice dry, "You left, even after I told you to stay here."

She scoffed, "You're treating me like a prisoner, I am free to come and go as I please."

Teal eyes widened incredulously at what she had just said, tilting his head back Riku let out a dark chuckle before turning his gaze back to the girl before him, "You're kidding, right? Akii you're essentially a fugitive at this point. You do realize that if you don't return within the next twenty-four hours willingly that they're going to send orders for your destruction, right?"

Truthfully, that thought had been pushed to the furthest reaches of her mind since the revelation of Lisette's identity as her flesh and blood sister but now that Riku had brought it up she couldn't help but feel afraid for herself. She couldn't go back, she was done with being a pawn and was ready to make her own decisions for once whether it lead to her untimely death or not but she would fight until the very end.

Bowing her head, she let the fringe of her bangs fall into her eyes to obscure Riku's view of her face. She didn't want him to see her like this, hell _she_ didn't even want to see herself like this, "Riku I can't go back."

"They're going to kill you!" He growled, his arms shooting out and grasping either side of her shoulders frantically shaking her until she met his gaze. He was frustrated, understandably, but what surprised her the most was the underlying softness of his eyes and that made her believe that he might have actually cared if she were to die.

Though that may have been due to the fact that he had risked so much because of her. He followed her when she had run off to save Halloween Town and had been keeping her whereabouts a secret since she defected. If Maleficent had known that he was currently seeing Akii he'd be in a lot of trouble, that much was for certain.

"Maybe things would be better if they did." She mumbled, her lips pulling into a sad frown. Riku stared at her incredulously, his mouth hanging agape, how could she have said that?

A low growl rumbled deep in the back of his throat, "How could you say that? Akii you're so strong, you need to go back and you need to fight for what you want. You can't just give up."

"I know but…Riku I can't deal with the darkness inside of me anymore. You know I just found out that I have a sister but I can't get close to her or hug her because being in her presence physically hurts me. I'm afraid. I'm actually terrified of the darkness and what it has done to me, how much it has changed me not just physically but mentally as well." She confessed, the corners of her eyes prickling with unshed tears, "I want out. I want out of this life I just want to be normal."

He wasn't quite sure that he understood why she would willingly want to denounce her darkness. She was strong, so much so that he was actually jealous of her abilities despite the fact that he knew that she had grown up with the darkness whereas he had only been exposed recently to it. But why would anyone want to give up all of that power?

The older boy angled his head in a curious manner, "But Akii…you're so strong. People fear you, fear your power. You can do whatever you want and not have to worry about anyone challenging you…" Well, with the exception of Maleficent and Darius.

"I don't want to be feared by anyone. I just want to be a normal girl who doesn't have to hide in the shadows. I want to be able to walk through my Kingdom and meet the people and I want to get to know my sister, Riku. How fucked up is it that I'm literally the very monster that she and Sora are going around destroying?" She laughed dryly, a scowl marring her pretty face.

A sympathetic frown tugged at the corners of Riku's lips as he realized just how unwanted the darkness was in her life. At least he was able to tread in the light, however he was certain that if he continued on this path he would probably end up like her and be cursed to remain in the shadows. He wasn't quite sure how that made him feel as part of him believed that he belonged to the darkness.

"Akii…"

"I want to be free of my darkness, Riku. And I think that you should quit while you're ahead unless you want to feel as miserable and trapped as I do. I promise you this is no life for you or anyone for that matter." She spoke again, her voice full of resolve and determination.

Riku sat there across from her, eyes locked and unwavering, he couldn't remember the last time someone spoke to him in such a way. Her words were sincere and heartbreaking to hear. Maybe she was right but he couldn't just denounce the darkness that he had so willingly welcomed into his life, at least not yet. He needed his power to help Kairi and get everything that he'd ever wanted, he couldn't give it up just yet…

"You might be right but I can't think that way right now. I need the darkness to help me get Kairi's heart back." He finally spoke, "We know that I can't rely on Sora to help her, it has to be me Akii."

Her lips tugged into a frown, her chin dipping momentarily to show her understanding, "I know just, Riku, please promise me that once this is all over and your friend is back to normal that you'll turn back from this path. I don't know Kairi but I can't imagine that she'd want any sort of life in the dark for you…" She bit her lip, this time her voice barely above a whisper, "Please promise me…"

The boy averted his gaze momentarily while he thought of what to say next to her. He could lie to her and tell her that he'd leave behind the path of darkness but something about her and how vulnerable she currently was made him realize that lying would get him nowhere and he'd much prefer to be completely honest with her.

She watched him quietly, analyzing his facial features to try and decode his thoughts. Akii knew that asking him to choose light over darkness was a lot to ask, especially after only knowing him for such a short time, but if he could just understand the life that she had lived and what she had gone through…

Riku stood abruptly and shuffled over to the nightstand, his fingers trailing along the faux wood before he grasped two thin black ribbons that had previously been used to tie back the thick blue curtains. When they had first arrived at the motel last night the curtains had been drawn back and held in place with those ribbons. Akii had immediately yanked off the ribbons, not wanting to draw any unwanted attention to herself and her whereabouts in case someone or something that was looking for her happened to be in Traverse Town.

The girl watched him curiously as he turned the ribbons over in his palm.

His lips quirked into a small smile before he turned and made his way back over to her, ribbons tightly enclosed in the palm of his hand.

"Here."

"What…?"

Riku laughed a little, "A promise."

She picked up her head, "To leave behind our darkness?"

He nodded his head, "I promise that, once all of this is said and done and I rescue Kairi's heart that I'll go back to my life on the Islands and leave the darkness behind."

The corners of her pale, chapped lips twitched, slowly forming a grin, "Yeah, okay. It's a promise, Riku."

The promise was sealed and made official by Akii tying her ribbon into a bow around her neck while Riku settled for wrapping his around his left bicep. She wasn't sure if they would ever see each other again after everything was said and done but that didn't bother her, she was just happy to know that he wouldn't go down the same path that she had been on for so long.


	8. Of Chimeras and Betrayal

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

 **Wherever You Will Go**  
 _Of Chimeras and Betrayal_

Days passed slowly and she kept her word by staying locked away in her motel room, she passed the time by reading from the old tomes left behind by travelers who had previously stayed there. None of the books were very interesting, each page just as dry and monotonous as the last, but it was all she had to keep her mind busy and thoughts from wandering.

Riku periodically visited her throughout the nights to give her some company but his visits became less frequent and shorter and shorter. He claimed that things were beginning to heat up on the battlefront and he needed to be by Maleficent's side as much as possible.

It was only after he hadn't payed her a visit in two days that she began to feel anxious, again weighing her options—should she go looking for him? Should she go looking for Lisette? Akii was beginning to feel useless and cowardly for staying hidden away for so long.

She didn't have much time to ponder a decision, a loud crash outside her window startled her out of her thoughts. Rushing forward she yanked the curtains open, all color draining from her already pale face.

Outside was one of the largest creatures she had ever seen, it had the body of a lion, the head of a bull, and the tail?—the tail was long, scaly, and ended with a snakehead waving wildly and snapping at everything within reach. The creature itself was as tall as a building, it's body thick and muscular. It looked strong.

"This isn't good." The words hung in the air, they had found her.

The only thing left to do was to meet the challenge awaiting her outside and save the people of Traverse Town from being attacked and devoured by this strange chimera Heartless.

Her fingers found the lip of the window and she thrust it upward, a gust of fresh air invaded the stale room and she could hear the sounds of screaming and utter destruction outside. The young girl perched herself on the ledge of the window before leaping outside into the cool, brisk evening. Her joints cracked and popped from disuse but she had no time to stretch, her scythe was firmly gripped in hand instantly and she found herself rushing towards the creature.

The tail-end of the creature seemed to alert the bullhead and suddenly the monster turned on it's heel, staring her down with bright, piercing red eyes. A shudder wracked her body before she shook off her fear, leaping towards the monster and swinging her scythe towards it's face. Right as her attack was about to hit she felt the snakehead tail collide with her stomach, successfully knocking the wind right out of her lungs and sending her body flying through the air.

Before she had time to process what was happening she made contact with the brick wall of the hotel, a pained gasp left her lips, her eyes wide in fear and agony. Her weapon clattered loudly against the stone street several yards away. She was pretty sure that at least one of her ribs had broken from the impact but she really didn't have time to think or nurse her injuries, she needed to defeat this creature before it destroyed the entirety of Traverse Town.

The silver haired princess pushed herself to her feet, wobbling and unbalanced, she could feel a warm trickle of blood slowly dripping down her forehead. Her lungs burned, as did every inch of her body, but she urged herself forward and summoned her weapon back into her left hand. Despite the blood stinging her vision, she moved towards the creature again.

Her body ached and her muscles protested against her movements but she was able to use the darkness within her to drown out the pain momentarily so it wouldn't distract her. Akii rushed forward, using her speed to confuse the hulk of a creature, weaving in and out of it's burly legs while dragging the blade of her scythe along the base of its stomach.

The creature reeled back in pain, clumsily falling backwards into an empty merchant's stall and letting out a furious roar that shook the foundation of the buildings surrounding them. The fight was far from over but at least that gave her a slight advantage knowing what its weakness was.

While it was stunned she ran at it again, leaping into the air and swinging her scythe high above her head, bringing it down against the thick neck of the creature. It snorted angrily, and wildly swung its head back and forth in an attempt to gore her on the long, sharp horns protruding from it's forehead.

She stumbled back, narrowly avoiding the horns by mere inches, her grip tightened around the shaft of her scythe and she was about to attack again but faltered. Her vision was becoming hazy and the pain was beginning to throb through the darkness that was trying so hard to keep it at bay. Akii knew that she wouldn't last much longer, the monster still had most of it's health and had barely broken a sweat ("do Heartless even sweat?"), she couldn't foresee a positive outcome for this fight.

The chimera lurched forward, head bowed to aim its horns directly at her, he was incredibly fast and she was barely able to roll out of the way of its attack, however not before the snake swung around and opened its jaws wide, clamping down on her side.

Her eyes widened in agony and she realized this was the end, Darius had sent out his strongest contender and it had done its job and served its purpose of taking her down. Akii was going to die to a fucking heartless.

Her lips twitched, _at least no one could say I didn't go out without a fight._

Her eyelids became heavy and as she began to close them to let herself fade back into the darkness she heard a loud battle cry and the sound of metal whizzing through the air. The snake's grip on her side loosened before it let go of her completely and her body fell, unceremoniously, to the concrete below. Energy completely drained, Akii lay there in a crumpled heap while her savior fought against the chimera.

The pain quickly consumed her and darkness overcame her senses, dragging her into unconsciousness.

Everything was quiet, she was enveloped in complete silence but she could sense that she wasn't alone by the vibrations in the air around her. She could feel the pain slowly ebbing away, being replaced by a cool soothing sensation and suddenly she realized that someone was healing her.

At first, she could feel low vibrations around her, then it sounded like she was listening to a far-off conversation of garbled voices and then all at once the sound became louder and louder until she realized that she was surrounded by voices speaking simultaneously.

"We can't just leave her here!"  
"Sure we can!"  
"Donald don't be a jerk, she almost _died_ trying to save the town!"  
"Yeah, and I healed her. We made sure she didn't die, now let's leave."

Her eyes fluttered open to see that Sora, Lisette, Donald and Goofy were all huddled around. They had been arguing amongst themselves and didn't notice her begin to stir, it wasn't until she let out a loud groan that they all turned their attention to her.

"You're awake!" Sora exclaimed happily, kneeling next to her.

Her body ached more and more the closer he got to her. Sora, noticing her wince as he leaned towards her, backed up to give her some space and offered an apologetic smile.

Lisette stepped forward, brows furrowed as she stared down at the silver haired girl propped against the wall, "What were you doing fighting that thing all by yourself? You almost died, you're lucky we arrived when we did!"

"Well I couldn't just let it destroy the town." Her voice was strained, "I had to do something whether it killed me or not. There's innocent people here. I'm done sitting around and doing nothing."

"Gawrsh, I'm glad you're okay Akii." Goofy piped up.

"How long was I out?" She was almost afraid to ask.

"Not long, we just defeated that heartless. Donald healed you and we were about to carry you to our ship when you woke up." Sora smiled. His light and cheery disposition was sickening, literally, just being this close to him and Lisette not only made her body ache and skin burn but she also felt nauseous.

"We were not!" Donald piped up angrily, shooting a glare in the brunet's direction.

Akii's lips twitched into a small smirk, "I guess you're not my biggest fan, Donald. Though I can't imagine why."

The mage turned his gaze to meet her's and she could tell that her sarcasm had struck a chord with him.

"We don't know you and I don't trust you." He stated simply.

She shrugged her shoulders, "That's fair and probably a good call on your part."

"Don't mind him, he's always cranky." Lisette laughed, ignoring the dirty look she was receiving from her magician friend, "Look, I know we've only met once before but there's just...something about you that makes me want to trust you."

Akii bit her lip, suddenly feeling guilty for not telling her right away what their relationship truly was. Would Lisette even believe her? Her fingers clenched around the pebbles and debris that surrounded her body from the fight and she contemplated whether she should just keep everything to herself.

No, the keybearer had a right to know her lineage.

"That makes sense, considering…" Akii paused, quietly assessing the situation, her eyes dancing from face to face as the group stared at her in confusion.

Lisette's eyes bore into her's and she anxiously took a step forward, "Considering what? Do you know something that I don't?"

Akii winced as her sister's light closed in on her. "Considering…you're my sister."

"What?"  
"Whoa, are you serious?"  
"Gawrsh!"  
"I don't believe that."

All of the reactions were to be expected, especially Donald and it was almost comical how predictable these warriors of light truly were. But she didn't care about the other's, she was focused solely on the face of the young woman whose eyes were searching her own for answers.

"Why do you say that?" Her tone wasn't exactly that of disbelief but she wasn't buying it right away either.

 _At least she's not as naïve as Sora, she has enough sense to question things._

A sigh escaped her dry, chapped lips. Akii dug her palms into the concrete, pulling herself into a standing position. Her body wasn't ready to support her own weight and she wobbled unsteadily before using the wall behind her as support.

"Because Maleficent and our uncle want you dead. I overheard them speaking, you and I were never meant to survive all those years ago but we did. Now they're afraid that you're going to ruin their plans."

"Maleficent?!" Sora, Donald, and Goofy simultaneously exclaimed, eyes wide.

"So…let me get this straight," Lisette began, pacing back and forth, "okay so that means that our uncle is a bad guy, obviously since he's working with that witch. But, where does that leave you?"

Confused, Akii tilted her head, "What do you mean?"

"Well, are you a good guy or are you with _them_?"

Sora gasped, "How could you even question her, Sette?! Obviously she's a good guy, why else would she be out fighting heartless? And why else would you feel like you can trust her?"

Akii's lips broke into a small, sad smile, "Your innocence is almost too much. She's right to question me. I will admit that I used to work with them, but I haven't for weeks. I was tortured and left to die so I left with the help of Riku—"

"Riku? You know where he is?!" Sora rushed forward, her hands gripping her shoulders tightly. He was desperate to find Riku after their last encounter.

"—oww!" She bit her lip, smacking his hands off of her shoulder's and inching away from him, "We were working together, he's with Maleficent but he was helping me hide from them after I pissed them off by leaving. I haven't seen him in a few days though, which is why I was going to go looking for him." She continued.

"See? I told you we can't trust her!" Donald cried, almost looking pleased with himself for having known from the start not to trust this strange girl.

"Are you okay...?" Sora frowned, concerned over her reaction to him touching her. He knew that he hadn't gripped her tightly enough to cause harm or even bother her bruises.

"Yeah, I…I'm not going to lie to you guys. The light is something that affects me greatly—in a negative way." She swallowed nervously, "You and Lisette are like walking, talking beacons of light so being around you guys weakens me and if you get too close it feels like my skin is on fire."

It was now Lisette's turn to frown, "Why're you telling us all of this?"

Akii smiled weakly, "We're family, aren't we?"

"You don't seriously believe her, do you Lisette?" Donald choked on his disbelief.

"I…" Lisette bit her lip, running a hand through her messy onyx locks, her lavender gaze turning to meet Akii's, "I do actually."

Something akin to relief flooded through the young princess and it took every ounce of self-control to keep herself from shooting Donald a satisfied smirk, figuring that wouldn't help her case any with the group.

"Well I guess that's settled, welcome aboard!" Sora grinned, offering her a hand before remembering what she had previously said and withdrawing his hand sheepishly.

"What can we do to make it less painful to you? I mean, us being around you." Lisette asked and then added, "Just to be clear, you're good now, but you have dark powers?"

Suddenly feeling self-conscious of her darkness, Akii slowly nodded, "Yeah, our uncle experimented on me with darkness as a child. But I promise, I'm done with him and Maleficent and the darkness. I just want to be normal."

She wasn't used to speaking about herself and ordinarily she would have lied right through her teeth but she was done with lying, well, at least to this group of heroes. She knew that she could possibly get their help in defeating her uncle and Lisette also had a right to know about who she was and where they both came from.

"Well alright, sounds good to me." Sora folded his arms behind his neck and leaned back on his heels, "So, where to next?"

The silver haired princess stared at him incredulously, he was ready to trust her just like that. Granted, the duck wasn't as forgiving but it was 3 – 1 in that situation so his opinion didn't really matter all that much from the looks of it.

The female keybearer stepped forward and spoke matter-of-factly, "Well obviously we need to go and kick our uncle—"She paused and tilted her face towards Akii, "What's our uncle's name?"

"Darius."

"Right. We need to go kick Uncle Darius' ass." She concluded, lavender eyes alight with her resolve. She couldn't imagine what Akii must have gone through growing up with a psychopath, fortunately she herself had been found by a loving family as a baby and had grown up in a warm home environment with a mother, father, and a little sister.

Disbelief marred Akii's face, eyes wide, "You…you really want to do this? You're seriously willing to help me take him down?"

Lisette smiled bright, "Of course, that's what family's for, ain't it?"

Akii had never really had a family so this was all new to her, she had always been on her own from the very beginning. She had never looked up to Darius as a father figure, more of a landlord who excelled at manipulation if anything else.

"Okay," She let out a breath, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips, "I guess we're really doing this."

The group made their way towards the First District where the gummi ship had been docked, to say that she was nervous would have been an understatement. Her body ached all over, partially from getting her ass kicked but also because here she was walking side-by-side with two warriors of light. The pangs of pain started out as a dull throb at first but now it was more consistent and felt as if her skin was being scratched repeatedly. She did her best to ignore it, she wanted this more than anything and she wasn't going to let a little pain get in the way of her forming a new alliance with the keybearers.

The familiar sound of a portal materializing close by brought her out of her thoughts and she was suddenly on guard, weapon in hand. The others must have heard it as well because they were crouched in defensive stances, weapons at the ready.

The portal opened in front of them, right before they made it to the doorway that lead out of the town and out towards where the gummi ship was stationed. She half expected to see Maleficent or even another high leveled heartless but instead Riku stepped out of the portal, his pale lips twisted into an angry scowl.

"Ri—" Sora started to exclaim excitedly.

"Sora," He spat vehemently, "I won't let you take her too."

The brunet was taken aback by the shear venom and animosity radiating from his best friend, bewilderment suddenly took over his expression and he let out a confused, "Huh?"

"You can't have her! We're going to help her!" Lisette growled, placing herself between Akii and the angry silver haired boy.

This was the most awkward situation, well one of them, that she had ever been in the middle of and on the one hand she desperately wanted to go with Lisette and her friends and take down her uncle but…

But Riku was her friend. He had been there for her and kept her safe and hidden away and she couldn't betray him like that. Not wanting things to escalate into a fight, Akii stepped out from behind her sister.

"What're you doing?" Sora frowned, hurt evident in his voice.

She bit her lip, offering the boy an apologetic smile, "Thank you for trusting me but Riku's my friend…" Slowly she shuffled towards Maleficent's apprentice, never once looking back at the group she was leaving behind.

"You've already taken enough from me." Riku sneered at the keyblader before following Akii into the portal of darkness, disappearing from sight.

"Where have you been?" She asked as soon as the portal had closed behind them and they were alone amongst the shadows.

He was quiet for a few moments, staring blankly at her. Taking this as a queue that he didn't want to talk Akii turned on her heel and began to walk down the dark path. His arm shot out, fingers wrapping around her forearm tightly to prevent her from leaving.

"What were you doing with _them_?" He seethed and she could literally feel the darkness surrounding him. His anger was beginning to manifest itself and she knew exactly where that would get him…she had been down that road many times before.

Whirling around to face him, she yanked her arm out of his grasp, "She's my _sister_ and they had agreed to help me defeat Darius. Where have you been these past few days? You certainly weren't there when the heartless that he sent to Traverse Town almost _killed_ me."

He reeled back in anger, tiny tendrils of darkness seeping through his clenched fists like tiny serpents, "I've been trying to keep them off of your scent. Don't be so ungrateful."

"Well you clearly weren't doing a great job of that if my uncle was able to find me." She shot back.

Her lavender gaze fell to his clenched fists and she let out a small gasp as she noticed the darkness taking form, "Riku…"

His attention snapped away from her face and he followed her gaze to his hands, somewhat startled he began to clench and unclench his fists.

"What is…" He mumbled before his lists quirked into a smirk, "I'm getting stronger."

She stared sadly at him, biting her lip, "Well that's one way of looking at it…"

Riku snapped out of his thoughts and frowned sympathetically, "I'm sorry, Akii. I just get so angry thinking about Sora and his new friends and then seeing you with them…" He grit his teeth before drawing in a deep breath to calm himself, "I'm glad you're okay, I'm sorry I wasn't there to help you with the fight."

"Did you know that they had found me?" She was genuinely curious, he was privy to whatever information Maleficent had and wouldn't have been too surprised if he had known about her uncle sending that heartless after her.

He averted his eyes, unable to meet her inquisitive stare and that was enough of an answer for her but he chose to speak up.

"Yes." He breathed, "But by the time I found out it was too late, he had already sent the chimera after you and when I was able to get away from them without arousing suspicion you were already unconscious."

So, he had been there the whole time, or at least long enough to see what had happened. She wasn't as angry as she should have been though.

She snorted, "He almost got rid of me. I bet he was pissed when he found out that the warriors of light had saved me."

Riku cracked a small smile, "I can imagine that they were both pretty upset with that outcome. I'm not though. I may hate Sora but I'm glad he was there when I wasn't."

It was a nice moment but she knew that there really wasn't time to sit and smile awkwardly at each other, "Where are we headed?"

Suddenly realizing that they had been standing in one spot for ten minutes he started forward, "Ever been to a place called Neverland? I have an acquaintance there, you'll be safe for now while we figure out our next move."

Truth be told she was sick of running and hiding and at this point probably would have been much safer if she had stayed with Sora and his group but she wouldn't dare admit that to Riku. For now she'd go along with his plan to hide out on Neverland but if her uncle or Maleficent found her again she decided that she would find Lisette again and stay with them until Darius was defeated.

That familiar tug at her naval signaled their arrival, Riku waved his arm and opened the portal to their destination. She had not ventured to this part of the galaxy before, the first thing she noticed upon stepping out of the darkness was the smell of sea-salt and gunpowder. The cool ocean breeze brushed by her, tousling her already tangled silver locks.

"Well done, young one."

The two teens whirled around to face Darius who was backed by a small horde of heartless. His dark gaze landed on his niece before giving Riku an appraising look.

"What? This was a trap?!" Akii growled, narrowing her eyes at the boy she thought she could trust. Thick ropes of darkness materialized out of the ground, shooting upwards and wrapping around her arms and legs to restrain her. She struggled against their grip but quickly realized that the more she moved the tighter they became.

Riku stood planted in place, trying to keep the panic from reaching his face. This wasn't meant to happen, she was supposed to be safe here. He wanted to help her but he still needed their help to get Kairi back.

Slowly a pool of darkness appeared around Akii's feet and the dark ropes began to pull her down into its depths. Darius' mad cackles echoed through the air as he too began to disappear into the darkness that formed around his ankles. Within moments Riku was left alone, his knees buckled and he fell to the very ground that his only friend had vanished into.

"Fuck!" He cried, clenching his fist and striking it against the dirt beneath him, creating a small indent in the earth.

He felt alone and useless and realized at that moment that he couldn't do anything right. He couldn't save Kairi and he couldn't keep one girl safe from her uncle. What was he good for? Nothing, absolutely nothing.

"I can give you power beyond your imagination." A disembodied voice sounded from everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

Riku's head shot up and he frantically began to glance around him to try and pinpoint where the voice had come from but he was completely alone, no one around for miles. Slowly, he pulled himself to his feet and narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"Who's there?" His voice cracked.

"That is of no importance. What is important is that you're weak. What you need is power, which I can give you. You'll be strong enough to save the girl from her demise and better yet you'll be strong enough to save your friend back from the islands."

"What's in it for you?" Riku asked suspiciously.

"Nothing but the joy of knowing that I helped a weak little boy make something of himself."

He probably shouldn't have trusted an invisible being but he felt so incredibly desperate that he was willing to make a deal with the devil.

He bowed his head in contemplation, silver fringe falling into his eyes, "Deal."

A devious cackle erupted all around him and suddenly he felt his chest burn, he was on fire! Flames of darkness rose from the ground and enveloped him, the pain intensified until Riku lost consciousness. While his body should have fallen, collapsed to the ground, it stood still….a malicious grin pulling at his pale lips.


	9. Of Mirrors and Dragons

**x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x**

 **Wherever You Will Go**  
 _Of Mirrors and Dragons_

They arrived back at the castle of Sanctions Keep moments after disappearing from Neverland, her mind was jumbled and thoughts were frantic—had Riku truly betrayed her to her uncle? Did she make the wrong choice in trusting him? She didn't know what to think in all honesty because it sure did feel like he had lead her right to her uncle.

"Welcome home." Darius chuckled mockingly.

They were in a room she had never been in before and she realized that this must have been one of the rooms that he had forbade her from entering growing up. It was a circular room with windows all around, sunlight filtering through the curtains.

She hissed as a beam of light struck her forearm but she was unable to pull away from it due to the dark bonds keeping her in place. This room must have been his fail safe in case of her defection as the actual dungeon was below ground and far from any source of natural lighting. This was the perfect place to keep her in a weakened state.

He sauntered forward, "Oh here, let me help you get comfortable."

Suddenly, the darknesss that was holding her in place began pulling her backwards towards the stone wall where he had already prepared metal prisoner's shackles for her. The dark tendrils slammed her against the stone, the air momentarily leaving her lungs from the impact. The darkness held her in place while Darius fastened the shackles around her arms and legs tightly.

"I know what you're thinking and yes, I did have this room specifically prepared for you." He confessed, "I always knew that one day I would need to bring you here as my prisoner." He began to move towards the window directly across from where she was being held, his fingers grasping the curtain fabric before yanking them open, allowing the bright light of the sun to flood into the room.

The beams traveled up her legs and rested on her torso, she could feel the skin on her arms and legs prickle as if a hundred bees were stinging her all at once. The pain was manageable for the time being but she knew it was only a matter of time before it became too unbearable and she would be wishing for everything to just end.

"Oh you have nothing to say? That's a first, I'll have to mark this day on my calendar." He mused, his dark gaze piercing her.

"What do you want me to say? _Oh, how clever you were to finally find me_? It was your heartless that did all of the work, if it weren't for them I'd still be out there." She growled, even in her captured state she still had enough energy to give him attitude.

He paced back and forth in front of her, laughing, "Hmm, they may be true but now that I have you here you will never have the taste of freedom again so I hope you enjoyed your little excursions."

Darius then left her to her own devices, locking the door behind him. She presumed he must have needed to report back to Maleficent but she knew that he would be back to put her through the ringer.

She was surrounded by windows but he had only chosen to open one of them, she knew it was because he wanted to slowly torture her for now. Her flesh burned and she knew that it wouldn't be long before it began to bubble and blister from the exposure.

The shackles were tight and gave her no room for movement, she wasn't sure if she would survive her capture this time. Darius and Maleficent had no more use for her now that her loyalties no longer lied with them, it was only a matter of time before they decided to destroy her.

Akii hung her head, messy silver locks falling over her face. She felt pathetic, how could she have been so stupid? She should have just stayed with Lisette and Sora…now she was going to die by her uncle's hand, she should have seen it coming.

* * *

Akii had been left alone for two days, each day she lost more and more energy from the light bursting through the opened window and when night fell it was a welcomed reprieve from the constant burn. Her skin was raw and blistered and she just wanted it to stop, she was slowly going crazy trapped inside of her own thoughts and feeling nothing but agonizing pain. She alternated between feeling the white hot pain from the UV rays and feeling itchy from the blisters all over her body—at this point she just wanted to peel all of her skin off to feel better.

A loud grumble interrupted her dazed thoughts and reminded her that she hadn't eaten or had anything to quench her parched throat in days. Her cracked lips were so dry she could taste the copper from where the skin had split open.

Suddenly the door opened and in stepped Darius looking rather proud of himself, no doubt from seeing the state his niece was currently in and knowing that it was because of him.

"Well, you're certainly looking worse for wear." He remarked, taking a step closer and examining her, "I can make it all stop, Akii. You just have to promise to come back and serve me and Maleficent again. Simple as that and this whole mess can disappear."

If she had had the strength to laugh she would have but her throat was so raw that she barely managed to get out an, "Absolutely not." Her voice was cracked and hardly above a whisper but she knew that he had heard her from the way he rolled his eyes.

"Such a stupid girl." He spat, "Though, I can't say that I'm too surprised by your decision. Your parents were just as stupid which, as you know, lead to their own demise just as it will lead you to yours."

It was common knowledge that he had staged a coup and killed her parents in order to claim the throne but it hurt hearing it come from the man himself. She couldn't mourn her parents because she had never known them but she had always resented Darius, not just for the personal hell he had subjected her to but because she knew that if it weren't for him she could have had a normal life. She could have had a mother and father and her sister and a chance to be a typical teenager—Akii didn't even know what the life of a typical teenager entailed but she desperately wanted that life.

"They're going to come for you." She managed, lifting her head to meet his gaze with a glare of her own.

He let out a loud, derisive chuckle, "Who, Sora? Your _sister_? No one is coming to save you, not that they would want to. Look at you, look at all of the horrible things you have done in your short life. You're a monster, the world is better off without you."

She wouldn't deny that she was a monster but she was willing to change, she wanted to change to be a better person than her past self and right her wrongs. Akii had done some absolutely terrible things over the years and she would give anything to be able to go back in time and keep herself from committing such atrocities.

Despite all that she had done she still believed she was capable of doing good, "You're wrong."

The man hummed patronizingly, "Do tell me what I'm wrong about."

"Lisette will rescue me and once I'm free we will defeat you together." She answered without hesitation.

Darius ran a hand through his meticulously kept onyx locks, a dark humorless chuckle escaping his lips, "Is that so? Well I'll let you in on a little secret, any minute now your precious warriors of light should be engaging Maleficent head on and I promise you they will not be victorious."

Suddenly his eyes lit up as if he had just thought of the most brilliant idea which, he probably thought he had but she knew that it would not be anything that she would enjoy. Darius turned on his heel and strolled over to the opposite side of the room where there was what appeared to be a control panel of some sort with several different levers and buttons in various colors.

His fingers wrapped around one of the levers, "I have something I know you're going to love. Why don't we watch our favorite little heroes meet their end and once it's all over I'll let you join them." He pulled the lever and the center of the room began to open up, the sound of whirring sprockets and clanking machinery echoing off the stone walls.

Once the floor had opened he mashed one of the buttons on the control panel and a large mirror slowly began to rise from down below. It didn't look like anything special but she knew that it must have been an enchanted mirror if it was going to give them a glimpse into what was happening on the battlefront.

"What happens when they defeat Maleficent and ruin your plans?" She shot back.

He seemed to contemplate that for a moment before shrugging his shoulders, "Regardless, you won't live too long after the fight is over so what happens afterwards won't really concern you, now will it?"

Her attention snapped away from her demented uncle and turned to the mirror in the center of the room just as the image changed from her reflection to show another circular room though this one was much larger than the one she was currently in. She could see Sora and Lisette standing before Maleficent who was up on a platform on one side of the room. Their lips were moving but no sound came through the enchanted glass for her to hear.

"I'm going to really enjoy watching her destroy these brats." He mused, crossing his arms over his chest and watching as the battle commenced.

Lavender eyes were glued to the screen, nervous at first for the heroes but then she realized that Maleficent didn't seem like much of a fight at all and she was certain that the keybearers would have no issue defeating her.

The group fought hard, taking minimal damage to her magic, but it wasn't long before the end seemed to be in sight. Akii turned to face her uncle, her lips curled into a triumphant smirk, "Looks like you bet on the wrong team."

He didn't seem too worried though, "Relax, the fight's not over yet."

He was right. Akii watched in horror as the witch transformed into a gargantuan dragon, spewing green flames and fireballs that seemed to follow the heroes around the room until they made contact. Things seemed pretty bleak at this point and she was beginning to doubt that they could come out of this fight as victors.

But all of her doubts proved to be unwarranted because Lisette and Sora, with the help of Donald and Goofy, of course, were able to defeat the vicious dragon and she couldn't have been prouder of the group. She shot another smirk in her uncle's direction when she noticed him silently seething at the defeat of his powerful ally, his fists clenched at his side and his face red.

"You were saying…?" She grinned cheekily.

He let out a huff before plastering on a smirk, "Minor setback, guess it's time to enact Plan B—you'll be the bait to lure our favorite little heroes to the castle and I'll take care of them myself."

* * *

Super short chapter, the next one will be the final chapter of this story so that means I need to get my ass in gear and start planning out the second installment. I technically have the first two chapters written for it but they were written over 10 years ago and are kind of awful so I will be re-writing them lol.

The next chapter is like…90% written I just need to finish the very end so hopefully I can get these up pretty quickly and then it won't be too long after that that I get story number 2, "Welcome to Oblivion" up.


	10. Of Doorways and Goodbyes

**Wherever You Will Go**  
 _Of Doorways and Goodbyes_

The mirror sputtered to life once more, the sound of static piercing the silence of the room she was being held captive in. Images flashed before her in fragments—golden eyes and a sinister smirk, Lisette staring at some unseen object in shock, Sora's face set in a determined glare. Nothing that was being shown to her made much sense as it was all out of context and she desperately wished for a clear image so she could at least know what was happening with Riku and with the heroes.

A rough cough wracked her frail body, her lungs burned and the sudden taste of copper caught her off guard. She felt so weak, all of her energy had been drained and it took all she could muster to simply glance towards the enchanted mirror to see the broken images being shown to her.

If she could just close the curtains on that one window she should be able to regain enough strength to make her escape. Her uncle certainly wouldn't be dumb enough to give in and pull the drapes closed for her though, there had to be another way to—her eyes suddenly snapped open as a thought struck her.

Her fingers clenched tightly together, her body shook as she attempted to muster enough power from deep within. She wasn't even sure if this would work considering how weak she was but it was worth a shot. Small wisps of darkness fizzled between her knuckles, enveloping her fists in a smoky purple. Her skin suddenly became cold and damp from the sweat that formed under her intense concentration.

A small pool of inky black began to form at her feet before revealing two crooked antennae, piercing yellow eyes, and limbs that swayed and twitched almost uncontrollably. It was a singular Shadow Heartless, it was all she had the strength to summon but it would be good enough. Her cracked lips twitched into a small, satisfied smile at the sight.

She nodded her head towards the opened window across from her, the Shadow stared at her unblinking.

"Pull the curtains closed so that no light comes through." She had never given the Heartless specific instructions like that before so she wasn't even sure if it would understand what she wanted. In the past when she summoned them it was to cause destruction which was instinctual to them so she never had to verbally instruct them what to do.

Akii chewed on her damaged bottom lip anxiously, lavender eyes watching the creature to see whether it would obey her. After a few quiet, anxiety filled moments the creature swayed in the direction of the window before taking the ends of the fabric in its clawed hands and pulling it until only a miniscule sliver of light shown through. That was good enough for her though and she internally cheered that her idea had even worked in the first place. Heartless were usually drawn to beings that held extreme power, she had once been able to command armies of them without much thought. That was in the not so distant past, now she was virtually powerless and was impressed that even this one Shadow Heartless found her to have enough power to show up and do her biding.

Her lips formed the words 'Thank You' without making any actual sound and she quietly dismissed the creature to fade back into the darkness from which it had come. It would take quite some time before she would have enough energy to try something but now that the light wasn't directly on her any longer she could begin the slow process of healing.

The silver haired princess knew that she wouldn't be able to take the proper amount of time to heal though, if anything she could only afford maybe an hour or two before she would need to do what she could to escape and meet up with the heroes. She wouldn't be much help to them but she knew that she couldn't let her uncle use her as bait to trap them.

The door suddenly opened to reveal her uncle, a smug smirk plastered on his face and she silently prayed to whatever higher power there was that he would not notice the lack of sunlight in the room.

"Come to gloat about your _genius_ plan again?" She rolled her eyes.

"You know me so well." He laughed, "I came to inform you that everything is back on track after the minor mishap of that witch's defeat. Your little friend has become the perfect little pawn in this game."

At the mention of Riku her full attention snapped to her uncle, his eyes darkened in amusement as he took notice to her sudden interest.

"I considered letting you watch your sister's demise on the big screen this time around but I think I'll just let you wonder whether she's alive or not." Darius chuckled darkly, "I will leave you with this bit of information, however. Riku is stronger than ever and is hellbent on destroying your little warriors of light and from the way things are shaping up it looks like he will have no trouble succeeding in this."

She narrowed her eyes, his words brought on a bubbling pit of anxiety that pulled at every fiber of her being. From the sounds of it Riku had given in and was now being controlled by the Darkness—sure he had voiced his hatred towards the Keyblade's Chosen One on many occasions but deep down that infuriatingly cheery boy was still his friend, or had been, and she was certain that Riku didn't _actually_ want to _kill_ him, right? Even if the Riku she knew didn't want to destroy the boy she knew that any negative thoughts and feelings he had harbored for the Keyblader would be strengthened tenfold now that he was being controlled by the darkness.

"I may have no further need for you if the boy takes out those pesky warriors." She was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of Darius' dismissive tone as he left her alone once more. She wasn't sure what he actually did whenever he left because it didn't really seem like he was a prominent member in this whole fight to begin with but she welcomed the silence that enveloped the room each time he left.

With this new information from her uncle she knew that she needed to act fast before Riku did something he would truly regret later. She just hoped that she would be able to break through to him.

Akii strained her ears to try and hear whether her uncle was going to come back to taunt her again, all that greeted her was silence. Taking this as her opportunity she closed her eyes once more and pooled together all of her remaining energy and power, focusing on manifesting the darkness into shadowy wisps. Her head felt light and dizzy from the use of power once more in her weakened state but she couldn't allow the feeling to overtake her, she needed to concentrate hard on what she was doing.

The shadows solidified and formed long tendrils that ran from her finger tips towards the shackles keeping her in place, slinking into the keyholes and working the inner mechanisms until she heard a faint, but satisfying, _click_.

She stumbled forward, her legs wobbled as if made of jelly from the lack of use over the past few days and she had to grasp onto the mirror in the center of the room for support while she gained her bearings. Her gaze shifted to her arms and legs, covered in welts and blisters from the UV rays that had consistently tortured her for several days straight. Her wrists were raw, dark purple bruises forming a thick ring around them from how tight the metal shackles had been. She was definitely worse for wear but she couldn't stop now. She needed to get the hell out of here before her uncle returned and tied her up again…or just killed her because he didn't really have any use for her anymore anyway.

 _Please…please give me the strength to create a dark portal…_ She silently pleaded, using the frame of the mirror to pull herself straight up, her knees wobbled and her grip tightened around the golden edges of the object. The princess grit her teeth, pushing herself away from the mirror to force herself into standing on her own, her hand outstretched.

Nothing happened.

Tears stung at the corners of her eyes but she wouldn't let them fall, her lip trembled, images of her sister laying alone on the castle floor bleeding out suddenly flashed in her mind. _No_.

Her gaze hardened at the thought, her hand stretched out in front of her once more, eyes set in determination. She couldn't afford to not succeed at this point, she needed to find Riku and pull him out of the Darkness' spell before he killed her sister and Sora.

Dark sparks shot out from her palm and a weak portal formed before her, before she had time to process what had just happened it started closing from her lack of power. Quickly, she limped forward and threw herself in the corridors of darkness just as her gateway closed behind her with a hiss. There was no turning back now.

She forged onward through the myriad of colors swirling around her, every couple of yards she would have to stop to catch her breath before shuffling forward once more. The silver haired teen focused on finding her sister, locking onto her energy signature and following it until she felt that pull at her naval.

Uncertainty gripped her as she faced her palm outwards to summon an opening to the world where she would find her sister. To say that she was anxious about what she was about to step into would have been an understatement and with the amount of pain she was in and her lack of energy she knew that she wouldn't fare well if she needed to get involved in an altercation. Despite everything that was wrong she swallowed her fear and stepped through the portal.

Where she ended up didn't appear to be another world at all but rather a wide expanse of space with strange floating rock formations that lead to a much larger plateau. A frown tugged at her lips, she had never seen such a place before but it radiated with darkness and absolute nothingness at the same time. A sense of dread gripped her tightly and she wasn't sure if it was because of the impending battle or because this world was just so foreboding and ominous that it amplified all of her negative feelings.

"They've gotta be here somewhere…" She mumbled out loud but couldn't see any sort of movement for as far as the eye could see. Silently she cursed how inaccurate dark magic was at locating someone's exact location, who knew how far she would have to travel before she caught sight of Riku or Lisette.

Heaving a heavy sigh, she ambled forward, a slight limp in her step as she came to the edge of the rock platform she was currently on, peering over the side and swallowing hard at how far up she was. A fall from this height would be fatal, no doubt about that, that is if there was even a ground to hit at the bottom of the drop. She supposed that since they were in space you'd probably just fall forever…

Swallowing the pain in her limbs she took a few steps back before running forward and leaping to the next pillar of stone, continuing this method until she reached the large plateau at the end of the makeshift pathway.

Once she made it to the other side she noticed a conveniently placed door, standing tall and decorated with ornate designs. She hesitated, her fingers outstretched towards the handle before biting back her nerves and renewing her resolve. Akii gripped the knob and yanked it open, shielding her eyes with her left arm as a blinding white light poured out.

As soon as the light faded she realized that she had just stepped out onto what appeared to be a sandy beach, waves crashed against the shore and the sun shown down brilliantly. A gasp escaped her lips as she realized the sun wasn't causing her harm!

She turned her hand over in the sunlight, fascinated by the warmth of the rays and the fact that they weren't searing her skin like they would have ordinarily.

"The sun…" She mumbled to herself, "This place must merely be a memory of a world that was previously destroyed."

Akii closed her eyes and tilted her chin towards the sky, letting the sun's warmth caress her pale skin. She had yearned for this for so long, it was a shame that this place wasn't real, it was just a remnant of a world forgotten. She stood there for what felt like an eternity but in reality was probably only about five minutes before she was snapped out of her thoughts by the sound of her name being called from across the beach.

She blinked, focusing her vision on the figure waving to her from across the way and immediately recognizing that person to be her sister Lisette. Her lips twitched at the sight of the other girl and slowly she limped forward but Lisette was much quicker and crossed the beach to meet her, concern evident in her features.

"What happened to you? Did _he_ do this to you?" She seethed the last part of her question, lavender eyes narrowed.

For a moment Akii was confused but then her attention was stolen by the sound of metal against metal and battle cries from across the shore. Sora, Donald, and Goofy were fighting with a tall, tan man with long silver hair and the battle seemed absolutely ruthless.

"I have no idea who that is so I'm going to go ahead and say 'no'." She answered finally, "Why aren't you fighting with Sora?"

Lisette stared at her for a moment, "Well, that _was_ Riku before he got possessed by Ansem." A frown tugged at her pink lips, "I was locked out of the battle by some sort of forcefield." She felt absolutely useless and wanted nothing more than to aid her friends in their fight but after trying, unsuccessfully, to break the invisible shield with her keyblade she realized that she was trapped on the other side until the fight was over.

The silver haired teen frowned, switching her gaze from her sister back to the fight between Sora and Ansem-Riku. What the hell had happened since her uncle had taken her hostage days ago? She almost didn't want to admit it, definitely not out loud, but she was worried that Riku would never be himself again.

"Are you…okay?" The other girl asked slowly after a long silence passed between them, successfully snapping Akii out of her thoughts for the second time.

She offered a small, sad smile before answering her sister, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just trying to figure out everything that I missed I guess."

The older girl nodded, her golden bangs falling into her face as she did so, "Well, that's kinda what we wanted to know too—what happened when you went with Riku?"

"Riku took me to a place called Neverland but when we got there we were ambushed by Darius and I was taken back to Sanctions Keep and kept in a weakened state. He wanted me to sit back and watch you die and he was planning on using me as bait." She drew in a sharp breath, "I couldn't let that happen so I escaped."

For the first time Lisette noticed the extent of Akii's injuries, the welts and blisters bubbling under her raw skin, the dark bags under her royal eyes, the slight limp in her gait. She brought the tip of her Starfallen Crest up and pointed it towards her sister's chest, issuing a Curaga to help with her injuries.

Akii let out a breath and muttered a quiet 'thanks' as she stretched her arms out before herself, curling and uncurling her fingers and reveling in the fact that it no longer hurt to move them.

"What a touching reunion, bet neither of you thought that you were part of something much greater than your own pathetic lives when you initially started out on this journey." Out of a hissing dark portal stepped a smirking Darius, "Or at least didn't even consider that you might find your long lost family along the way. Too bad you both must die here, at least you'll perish together though. Quite poetic if you ask me."

The silver haired girl let out of a growl, "Well nobody asked you."

Lisette stared between the two, noticing the ferocity in her sister's voice and the threatening manner in which the older man had spoken to them. Quickly, she crouched into an offensive position, tightly gripping her keyblade.

"You must be _Uncle Darius,_ I've heard _so_ much about you." Lisette spat, eyes narrowed

His charcoal gaze landed on the warrior of light and he chuckled darkly, "Oh I'm sure you have. I must admit that finding you alive and a _Keybearer_ no less certainly put a damper on things but this is where your story ends, dear niece."

"As if." Lisette laughed, "In case you haven't noticed, you're outnumbered two to one."

Akii watched the exchange between her sister and uncle and suddenly felt guilt well up inside of her, for what, she wasn't sure but part of her knew that this was somehow her fault. In a flash, her scythe was firmly gripped in her hand as she too prepared for a fight.

"That may be," Darius was confident, "But I have years of experience with the darkness under my belt whereas you've only been on this journey for what—a few months? You're outmatched, whether you're allied with Akii or not, the two of you together will not be able to land a scratch on me."

"We'll see about that!" Lisette cried, rushing forward and initiating the fight.

Somewhat taken aback, Akii realized that her sister seemed just as reckless as Sora was when it came to fights and that worried her. Nevertheless, the silver haired teen followed suit and rushed forward with a newfound energy that came from her sister's healing spell.

Darius let out a chilling laugh and brandished a long sword that Akii had never seen before, a series of intricately carved designs ran up the blade while the hilt was adorned with various jewels. Despite the fact that she had never even seen him fight before he was quite the skilled swordsman and was able to block and parry each attack that the girls sent his way.

Shadowy wisps poured out of his fingers like a fountain, wrapping around his blade while the excess darkness pooled around his feet. The two girls halted in their steps, warily watching him as inky black Shadow heartless twitched to life before them.

He used the Heartless as a protective barrier and the girls quickly worked together to dispel the creatures so that the fight with their uncle could resume. Lisette seemed to have higher stamina than Akii did which made sense considering the keybearer had been doing nothing but fighting for the past few months alongside Sora and his lackeys. The silver haired princess was strong but didn't have to take part in actual battles very often, she was the one who probably provided half of the Heartless battles that Lisette had fought along her journey.

Akii rushed forward while Lisette was taking out the last of the Heartless, when she was only a few yards away she leapt into the air, her body twisting as she brought the blade of her scythe down towards her uncle. Darius sidestepped out of the way and swung his sword upwards towards his niece, their weapons colliding with a loud clatter a metal against metal.

While he was distracted by his former charge Lisette snuck up behind him and lashed out with a series of powerful blows to his back with her moon shaped blade. Darius let out a startled cry, dropping his guard for a split second to allow Akii to also get in a nice slice to his mid-section. Suddenly the older man was engulfed in shadowy flames and in an instant, he was gone!

Both girls straightened up, eyes dancing around frantically to try and pinpoint the direction their uncle had disappeared in. Subconsciously the two sisters moved closer to each other, standing back to back.

Darius popped back into existence out of, quite literally, nowhere with nothing more than a hiss from the shadows he had come from. He was much quicker now, darting back and forth towards them so fast that the two girls had trouble following his movements. He laughed darkly, having caught them both off guard.

He circled around them in a blur of darkness fueled movement, Lisette attempted to follow him with her eyes but quickly found herself feeling dizzy and unable to keep up.

"Why is he so fast?" She groaned.

"When he disappeared, he was calling upon the darkness to give him more power." Akii answered over her shoulder, trying her best to keep up with her uncle's movements.

"How do we get him to stop running in circles?" Lisette called out to her sister after she decided to give up on trying to follow her uncle's movements.

The silver haired girl thought for a moment before narrowing her eyes on the blur that was the bane of her existence, in one quick movement she threw her scythe into the blurred motion. Just like that, the weapon made contact with Darius' shoulder, the pointed blade sticking out of exposed flesh as the older man laughed.

"How'd you do that?!" Lisette stared, astonished.

"You forget that I've got the power of darkness on my side as well." She laughed hollowly before nodding towards their uncle who had dabbed his fingers against his open wound and licked the blood from between his fingers.

Akii held out her hand and summoned her weapon back to her, expertly spinning it between her fingers, "Had enough, old man?"

"As if, I'm just getting warmed up, _dear_." He chuckled, raising his right hand and pointing it towards the two girls, tendrils of darkness shot forward and wrapped around the Keyblade wielder's neck. He lifted her up, feet dangling several inches above the ground as Darius began to choke the life out of Lisette.

"Let her go!" Akii cried out, she could feel her anger bubbling inside of her, feeding her own darkness and with a newfound burst of energy she ran forward at a speed that would have been lost to the naked eye. Darius lost sight of her momentarily and when she reappeared she was leaping towards him, before he had a chance to defend himself her scythe crashed into his abdomen.

The impact sent him stumbling backwards, his concentration on Lisette was lost and she fell to the ground with a hard thud, gasping greedily for the air that she had been denied.

The silver haired princess did not let up on her barrage of attacks, denying her uncle any sort of reprieve to heal himself. She was able to land two more well aimed attacks before a wave of energy sent her flying backwards, colliding with her sister's body yards away.

"Thanks for breaking my fall." The young princess muttered through a groan, her bones aching as she untangled herself from her sister.

"Oh no problem, anytime." Lisette replied sarcastically, pulling herself to her feet and helping Akii to her own before facing their uncle once again. Her Keyblade struck against his sword, sending a metallic ringing through the salty air before the two went at it in a well-choreographed dance for dominance.

After a few minutes Akii noticed a lull in the battle where Darius and Lisette were locked in a defensive position, blocking the other from making contact with flesh. It was in this moment that she decided to take her chance and attack from behind while he was distracted by her sister.

She thought she had the element of surprise and was being sneaky but Darius was prepared, just like he always was. As she brought her blade down towards the back of his head he kicked Lisette's feet out from under her and whirled around with such speed that Akii didn't have any time to react as his blade pierced her chest.

Lisette screamed, but Akii could only hear the beating of her own heart as the adrenaline slowly began to wear off and she was now aware that the sun no longer warmed her skin. A deep cold started to settle in, goosebumps rose all over her body and she felt herself losing energy quickly. The blade slid out of her chest and she crumpled to the sand, her own blood making the granules sticky and red beneath her.

Riku watched from the prison of his own body as Xehanort relentlessly attacked Sora and his friends, regret settled in like a heavy blanket. He didn't want this. Sora was going to die at the hands of this being that was controlling his body and there was nothing he could do about it; how could he have been so stupid?

Akii was right. The darkness was going to take everything from him and he'd have nothing to show for it.

He could see bits and pieces of the outside world through the eyes of his captor, suddenly his attention snapped to movement just outside of his battle with Sora. Teal eyes widened and dread began to set in as he watched Darius' blade plunge deep into Akii's body and then she fell to the ground and lay there motionless.

Xehanort's Heartless faltered as Riku slowly began to take control through his anguish.

Sora and his comrades took advantage of their enemy's hesitation and pummeled him until finally he stumbled backwards and the image of Xehanort melted away and in its place stood Riku.

Sora let out a cry of joy, his best friend was finally back to normal! He rushed forward to embrace the silver haired boy but as he drew closer Riku's eyes snapped open and he took off across the beach leaving Sora standing there, confused, until his sapphire gaze landed on the scene just outside of his own battle area.

Riku let out an anguished growl as he sped towards the older man who was standing over the young girl, blade drawn. The boy narrowed his eyes and struck the man repeatedly without stopping until he stopped trying to fight back, falling to the ground.

"She was right to pick you." He coughed, "You truly do belong in the darkness." His eyes closed for the last time. Riku considered his last words for a moment before sliding against the sand, falling to his knees at his friend's side.

Lisette was already cradling Akii's head in her lap, trails of tears staining her dirty face and falling to mix with the blood on her sister's cheeks.

"She's…she…"

Sora, Donald, and Goofy rushed over, taking in the solemn scene before them.

"Donald, heal her!" Sora cried, biting his lip anxiously.

Donald frowned, shaking his head, "Magic won't work on a fatal wound."

Riku clenched his fists at his side before pounding them into the sand, creating a small dent in the ground.

"I should've listened to her." He mumbled through gritted teeth, angry with himself and feeling the weight of an immense guilt wash over him.

"Please don't go," Lisette choked, "We didn't even get the chance to get to know each other. It's not fair. Don't do this."

Beneath Akii's body a bubbling pool of darkness began to form, thick tendrils wrapped around her torso and slowly started pulling her down into it's dark depths. The group collectively let out a startled gasp, Riku, Sora, and Lisette grasping at arms and legs and pulling with all their might to loosen the darkness' grip on their friend. But it was no use. The darkness was sticky and thick like a tar and would not let up, before they knew it she had completely disappeared leaving no sign of existence.

Small drops landed in the sand in front of Riku, creating little dark circles of moisture. He kept his eyes downcast, realizing that this entire ordeal was his fault for not being strong enough to fight off his darkness. His teal gaze suddenly landed on the ribbon tied around his forearm and he dipped his chin, nodding his head.

 _Right. I'll keep my promise to you, Akii_.

"Soraaa!" Donald squawked in alarm, pointing a feathered finger towards the Door to Darkness they had previously been fighting Ansem over. The door was opened a crack with Shadows slowly, but steadily, leaking out.

"It must've been opened during the fight." Riku concluded, hastily pulling himself to his feet and casting one last glance to the area that Akii had formerly laid before running towards the Door. The rest of the group followed closely behind the silver haired teen, a sense of urgency coursing through the air like static electricity.

"We have to close it!" Goofy cried, smacking at a Shadow that had gotten too close for comfort with his shield.

Donald raised his staff into the air and let a powerful Thundaga spell cascade down around them, destroying the heartless that had escaped from within the doorway. The group congregated around the door, each of them pulling against the heavy door with all their strength.

"It's not budging!" Lisette growled, frustrated that their combined efforts weren't helping the situation.

Suddenly Riku removed his hands from the door and took a step back, Sora stared at him curiously before the older teen slipped through the crack in the door and began pushing from the other side.

"What're you doing?!" Sora blurted out, eyes wide as he instinctively moved to go after Riku.

"Stop!" Riku commanded, "This door needs to be closed from both sides, there's no way around it so just trust me."

Sora hesitated, "But Riku…"

"Look!" Donald cried, pointing to the darkness behind Riku that was beginning to take the form of a wave made of Heartless, hurdling towards the opening.

"Quit yer gawkin' we gotta close this door!" Goofy scolded his feathered friend who, upon hearing the seriousness in Goofy's voice quickly went back to working on getting the door closed.

It seemed like a hopeless endeavor, but no one dared to voice these thoughts out loud. Suddenly, a bright light shown from behind Riku and when it dissipated King Mickey was standing there brandishing his golden blade.

With Riku and the King both pushing from the opposite side the group of heroes were able to get the door to slowly swing shut but not before the silver haired teen gave his childhood best friend an apologetic glance.

The guilt clung to him heavily, it was suffocating. He had done this. He had opened the Door back on the islands, he put his friends at risk, he indirectly caused the death of his newest friend, it was all because he had been jealous…

"Maybe I do belong here." He mumbled, his teal gaze staring at the dark expanse surrounding him.

The sound of King Mickey's voice startled him, almost having forgotten that he wasn't completely alone, "Now don't say that! Everyone makes mistakes, that's a part of being human—"

"I cost someone her life! I almost killed my best friend! I've probably hurt hundreds of people during my travels! Those aren't just little mistakes, I've done terrible things." Riku shot back, at first vehemently, but towards the end his voice cracked.

The King offered a sympathetic look, "You were misguided but you're willing to right your wrongs. It takes someone very strong to be able to admit that they made a mistake, no matter how minor or horrendous, and to want to become a better person."

Riku turned to view the mouse for the first time and he could feel the purity that the King exuded, these weren't just empty words meant to make him feel better. Mickey meant what he said and that caused a stir within the silver haired teen's chest. If this small being believed that he could do better here on out, then maybe there was hope after all.

Sensing Riku's resolve, Mickey smiled softly before turning his back to the Door, "Where to?"

"I have a lot to atone for, I don't know where my path will lead me but I just know that I need to move forward." He offered the mouse a small smile, "Plus, I made a promise that I intend to keep."

That was all Mickey needed to hear as the two sent off together.

That's it! It took me over 10 years to finish this damn story, how sad is that when it's only a 10 chapter story? Haha.

I was determined to finally finish this though because, in my head, I'm already on story number 3 with Akii…now comes the tedious part of writing everything down. Ugh. Wish I could just hook myself up to a machine and have it extract everything from my brain and write it for me.

Oh well.

I should have the first chapter of Welcome to Oblivion posted soon. Please make sure to follow me so you'll know when it's posted! The second story will be much much longer since it will encompass 358/2 and KH2 as well.


	11. Author Note

Hey guys!  
Just wanted to make a post to let you know that chapter 1 of Welcome to Oblivion (the sequel to this story) has been posted if you'd like to check it out! Thank you!


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